Author Kim Harrison | photo by Kate Thornton

New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison is busily flying from city to city to promote her latest book A PERFECT BLOOD of “The Hollows” series. Once again her heroine Rachel Morgan finds herself up against seemingly insurmountable obstacles both interior and exterior, and Harrison keeps the reader entranced right up to the last page.

As many already know “The Hollows” is winding down as a series, so ASSIGNMENT X took the opportunity to meet up with Harrison before a signing in Burbank, CA at Dark Delicacies to get the scoop on upcoming “Hollows” books, a new series from THE CW, and other projects on the fire.

ASSIGNMENT X: Last year when we talked you had said that there was a finite number of “The Hollows” books. Are you still sticking with that number?

KIM HARRISON: Funny you should ask. Officially I am still aiming for twelve; possibly thirteen. I thought I knew how I was going to end it. Fortunately that thirteenth book is a floater so if I have an idea and my editor likes it, there may be one more. I’m really not sure. I need to talk to her and we’ll see. So at this point it is defiantly twelve, maybe thirteen, I wish there was something more I could tell you.

AX: If you got to thirteen and had another idea would you keep going with the series?

HARRISON: No. I don’t want to say that I’m tired of Rachel, but as a writer I want to learn how to write in a new way and a new direction with a new technique. I can’t do that with Rachel because her world is set. Its first person, I know her voice, I know how the story should unfold, and though the stories have a pattern to them; I need to do something else. I’m going to take a break. I have a manuscript that my editor hasn’t seen yet, that will be after I’m done with “The Hollows”.  After I play with the new world a bit more I might go back and do another “Hollows” but I’m not sure. We’ll see.

AX: So let’s talk about the graphic novels. There’s a new one coming out?

HARRISON: Yes. BLOOD WORK is out right now and BLOOD CRIME is scheduled for December of this year. It is going to have Gemma (Magno) as the artist. She was the colorist on the first one, but she did it all this time. It’s done, in the box, ready to go! I’ve seen the cover and it looks fabulous. We’re just trying to get the timing right with the other “Hollows” books. It picks up right where the last one left off with Ivy’s point of view. This is probably going to be the last one that I script, simply because I had fun doing and I loved it, but my forte is really in the longer fiction where I can slow down and have a lot of character development.

PALE DEMON by Kim Harrison

AX: Would you be all right with turning the reins over to someone else to write the stories if they want to do more?

HARRISON: I feel like I am because the series is coming to a close and I am slowly acclimating myself to letting someone else come and play in my sandbox. [Laughs]

AX: What can you tell me about your option with THE CW network?

HARRISON: The CW has picked up the rights for “The Hollows.” I’ve been sitting on this since last year and it’s a relief to finally be able to talk about it. I’m really pleased. Jordan Hawley from SMALLVILLE is the guy who is writing the pilot and they are shooting for a 2012-2013 season. They are bringing me on as a consultant mostly for the mythology and the magic and I am very excited about where they are going to go with it. They’re very slow on releasing information, but by June I should have some more concrete data as to whether they are moving forward with it, but I think they will; they seemed really excited about it.

AX: Have you talked to L.J. Smith (VAMPIRE DIARIES, THE SECRET CIRCLE) about the experience of working with THE CW?

HARRISON: No I have not. I’m going in to this just with both eyes open and understanding that things change and may not happen. But, I’m ready to trust the people who know what needs to happen and what’s going on.

AX: A PERFECT BLOOD is your latest “Hollows” book, and you were finished with it when I interviewed you last year. How long do you usually have between finishing a manuscript and the publication to insert any additional information you might think of as you plot the next sequel?

HARRISON: I usually have a lot of time for that. The eleventh book is already finished its called EVERAFTER. When I get home from tour it’s sitting on my desk, ready for an editorial re-write. It won’t come out until this time next year, so we’re right on schedule with that. I do have another manuscript that’s all ready that probably won’t see the light of day until 2015, maybe 2016. So I work very far ahead of my publishing schedule just so that I can get an idea and work it into the book. I’ll have at least two more times on EVERAFTER to fix and change and manipulate.

AX: It’s been brought up a lot, but are you still figuring out Rachel’s ‘happy ending’?

HARRISON: There is no way I can make everybody happy. A lot of my readers think the ending should be between Rachel and Ivy. A lot of my readers think it should be between Rachel and Trent. Some actually think it should be between Rachel and Al. So there’s no way I can make everybody happy. As long Rachel’s happy I’ll be happy.

AX: Do you ever get pressure from fans to resurrect characters?

HARRISON: Are we talking about Kisten? I’m afraid he is gone. I’ve cremated him and he is in a box under Ivy’s bed. There’s no bringing him back. Oh…I just had a thought… never mind. I could if I wanted to. I could make anything happen. I could make it seem realistic and not break too many rules, but I do think Kisten is gone for good.

AX: In A PERFECT BLOOD you bring in a human hate group called HAPA. Is this the absolute first time they have been mentioned or did they sneak into other books?

HARRISON: No I have not used them before. HAPA was my editor’s idea. We were working on the ideas for the next book and she said “what about the humans?” We haven’t really gotten into what they are doing. There have to be groups that aren’t happy since “The Turn” and it really came out of that.

AX: Had you always planned to make them the KKK of “The Hollows”?

HARRISON: I had no idea until I started outlining A PERFECT BLOOD that they even existed. The men-who-don’t-belong are another group in the book that are interesting. We’re seeing two fractions of humans who we’ve never seen before and it was fun to write; I’ll tell you!

AX: Now with HAPA we have a whole other batch of interesting and original epithets and slurs. Was that fun to create?

HARRISON: It was! I had to come up with the equivalent of the ‘n’ word for witches and vampires and werewolves. It’s tough to make up a word that sounds nasty and isn’t related to any word that we currently use in the English language.

AX: What’s your favorite thing to do with Rachel?

HARRISON: In the past it has been that I’ve enjoyed having her make mistakes that get her in trouble. Lately, I’ve been having her get smarter and make better decisions. It’s time to end the series, and it’s been a challenge to keep getting her in these situations where she’s in trouble. That’s where I’ve been bringing in Trent and developing the new aspects he’s trying to do. He’s been making mistakes that get Rachel in trouble, and I’ve been having a lot fun with that.

AX: When you are writing how do the characters end up forming relationships? Do they just happen?

HARRISON: They do happen. It might be a look; a glance, just like in real life that suddenly there’s a connection. As a writer I love following those new threads and trashing my old outlines and seeing what’s going to happen.

AX: What other new things do you have coming that people can look forward to?

HARRISON: There’s going to be a Harrison anthology coming in October. It’s a collection of all of the old “Hollows” shorts and novellas that have been produced over the years, plus about 300 manuscript pages of new stuff which I developed to show my editor what I might do after “The Hollows”. Of course, I’m not going to now, I’ve played in all of those worlds a little bit and I pulled out the best parts of all of them and written a new world and I think that’s what’s going to follow “The Hollows”.  They have a 600 page tome, so they’re going to have to make the print really tiny! [Laughs] It’s called INTO THE WOODS and it’s already available for pre-order actually.

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Related Link: Exclusive Interview with Kim Harrison on PALE DEMON – Part 1
Related Link: Exclusive Interview with Kim Harrison on PALE DEMON – Part 2

Article Source: Assignment X 
Article: Exclusive Interview with Kim Harrison on A PERFECT BLOOD

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