The Faerie Prince Tour & Interview

Hey, gang! Those of you looking for my IWSG post, please check back on Friday. Today, I'm honored to be hosting author Rachel Morgan in celebration of her newest Creepy Hollow book, The Faire Prince.

Rachel and I recently sat down for an interview, but first, a little about The Faire Prince:

Guardian trainee Violet Fairdale is just weeks away from one of the most important occasions of her life: graduation. After messing up big time by bringing a human into the fae realm, Vi needs to step up her game and forget about Nate if she hopes to graduate as the top guardian of her year. Everything would be fine if she wasn’t forced to partner with Ryn, her ex-friend, ex-enemy, current ‘sort of friend’. They might be trying to patch up their relationship, but does she really want to spend a week undercover with him for their final assignment? On top of that, the possibly insane Unseelie Prince is still on the loose, free to ‘collect’ as many specially talented faeries as he can find—and Vi is still at the top of his list. Add in faerie queens, enchanted storms, complicated not-just-friends feelings, and a murder within the Guild itself, and graduation is about to become the least of Vi’s problems.

Purchase The Faerie Prince

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Sounds fantastic, right? Let's see what Rachel has to say about it. :)

EJ: The Faerie Prince is the second book in the Creepy Hollow series. What's the inspiration for the series, and more importantly, how'd you come up with the rocking series title? (Seriously, Creepy Hollow is one of THE coolest series titles I've ever seen.)

RM: I REALLY wish I had an exciting answer for you, but, honestly, the name Creepy Hollow just appeared in my head one day! So it was more about picking the right story (from the tons of stories that zoom around my head all the time) to fit the name, rather than having a story idea first and having to think of a name for it. So I suppose you could say the inspiration for the series was the name itself!

EJ: I read that you intended the series to be several novellas originally, but decided to condense them down into 3, full-length books. What inspired that decision? Were there any challenges in changing the format you didn't expect?

RM: You know how a vision changes along the way? That happened for me! I’d first envisaged this series like a TV series, with shorter individual stories (different assignments for Vi) that all linked up with one overarching theme (one main villain with one big plot). But ... I’ve always been a fan of novels, and that started to show through as I was writing the first novellas. They kept getting longer, and the later ones (that are now in The Faerie Prince) were more closely linked than individual “episodes” should be. I decided in the end that Creepy Hollow would work better as a trilogy of novels.

The challenge in changing the format was that some people who’d read the earlier novellas were confused about whether The Faerie Guardian was a new book, or whether it was the same stuff they’d already read. (It was the same, but with some bonus chapters at the end)

EJ: You're doing a blogfest with the book release where people are asked to share their favorite faerie tale prince or hero. (Can mine be a princess? If so, I choose Merida from Brave. If no, I choose Beast from Beauty & the Beast. He's just the kind of flawed and grumpy/angry protagonist I can get behind. :) ANYWAY, why do you think the prince or princess trope (totally not a negative word here--just means it WORKS) in fantasy is so compelling for readers & writers? (We clearly can't get enough of them. Or at least I can't! LOL)

RM: Yes, yours can be a princess, and Merida is an excellent choice! I think there’s something enticing about royalty, probably because most of us are NOT royal and won’t ever marry anyone who is! The idea of princes and princesses speaks to us of fairy tales and happily-ever-afters and adventure and magical worlds where heroic deeds are performed and no matter how many dark clouds and fire-breathing dragons show up, everything always works out in the end. (FYI – this is NOT what you’re going to get in The Faerie Prince!)

EJ: Last GREAT book you read? Most anticipated summer movie? Must-listen-to-weekly (or daily) music or band?

RM: I read a lot and enjoy a lot, but the last really GREAT book (in my opinion) was Insurgent by Veronica Roth (which means I haven’t read a truly great book in about a year!). Most anticipated move of the YEAR for me is City of Bones (I adored the book, and I really hope they don’t “mess up” the movie!). Music ... hmm, that changes all the time. If we make it more general, on a weekly basis I have to listen to some kind of epic, inspirational movie score. It helps the writing ;-)

EJ: Last question! Why are fans of YA Fantasy going to love the Creepy Hollow books? 

RM: The Creepy Hollow books are not just another fairy tale. They have unique modern twists that I think readers will enjoy. There’s also the fast pace, the adventure, the ‘swoonworthy romance’ (quote from a review of the second book!) and the twists you’ll never see coming ;-) Readers have said you should check out Creepy Hollow if you’ve enjoyed Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely series and Aprilynne Pike’s Wings series.

EJ: Thanks for hanging out, Rachel! I think The Faire Prince is going to be a smash for sure.

Read below to learn more about Rachel and the Creepy Hollow books. There's also a cool giveaway with the launch (Raflecopter below the post), so be sure to enter!

Rachel Morgan was born in South Africa and spent a large portion of her childhood living in a fantasy land of her own making. After completing a degree in genetics, she decided science wasn’t for her—after all, they didn’t approve of made-up facts. These days she spends much of her time immersed in fantasy land once more, writing fiction for young adults.

The Creepy Hollow Series

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