To which Karina Bliss said, “HAHAHAHHAH. Wait, really?”
Well, she actually said, “Zander….really, guys, you think he’s redeemable?”
To which we, and especially Elyssa, replied, “YES.”
And after some additional conversation, Karina said, “I like to write another and honestly you’re making me think about Zander…probably not for Super [Romance]. He won’t rein in his swearing.” (You can read the transcript after Karina arrived at about 9:57pm, if you’d like to see the conversation.)
Apparently the idea stuck with her for awhile, and now, she’s self-published Rise, Zander’s story. I wanted to get all nosy about it, and she agreed to do a Q&A with me about the book.
First let’s introduce the book, right? Right.
Acclaimed literary biographer Elizabeth Winston writes about long-dead heroes. So bad-boy rock icon Zander Freedman couldn’t possibly tempt her to write his memoir. Except the man is a mass of fascinating contradictions–manipulative, honest, gifted, charismatic and morally ambiguous. In short, everything she seeks in a biography subject. When in her life will she get another chance to work with a living legend? But saying yes to one temptation soon leads to another. Suddenly she’s having heated fantasies about her subject, fantasies this blue-eyed devil is only too willing to stoke. She thought self-control was in her DNA; after all, she grew up a minister’s daughter.
She thought wrong.
Rock star Zander Freedman has been an outlier–many would say an outcast–for most of his life. But there’s no disaster he can’t overcome, from the breakup of his band to the inevitable damage to his reputation. His Resurrection Tour is shaping up to be his greatest triumph–if his golden voice holds out. Contracting a respected biographer is simply about creating more buzz. Elizabeth’s integrity is the key to consolidating his legacy as one of rock’s greats. All the damn woman has to do is write down what he tells her. Not force him to think. Or encourage the good guy struggling to get out. And certainly not make him fall in love for the first time in his life. Turns out he is scared of something: being known.
And here’s Karina!
Sarah: Zee (Zander) is one of the most self-absorbed, selfish and egotistical heroes I’ve ever met. Was that difficult to write? Did you dislike him when you wrote him in What the Librarian Did?
Karina: Thank you! Someone on Amazon called him a “self aware megalomaniac,” which sums up Zander’s character perfectly (but she loved him anyway). I didn’t like him when I wrote What The Librarian Did and I certainly didn’t respect him. Only reader interest made me take another look at him, and even then I had to let Zander wander into a couple of books before I decided we could work together.
I’ve always loved this Henry Wadsworth quote: “If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.”
So I began plotting using that as my touchstone, and mixed in a little Mark Twain: “Go to heaven for the climate, hell for the company.”
Whatever Zander’s (many, many) failings, he was always entertaining when he strode into a scene – outrageous and funny.
It was important to have him already changing when the book began – no longer anesthetized by booze and drugs, Sleeping Beauty was waking up to his behavior.
Zander was never going to be a quick fix, and he’s not fixed when the book ends. But, with Elizabeth’s support, he’s on the right path now.
Sarah: One of the things I found both shocking and believable was that Zander’s changes, his elimination of drugs, alcohol, chocolate, bad foods, everything and every possible vice, was to save his voice, thereby preserving his career and the one thing he loves and feels he’s good at. And yet, he’s still being selfish. You’re right – he’s not a quick fix.
What about Elizabeth: what were the challenges in coming up with a heroine who could stand up to Zander and all his overpowering charisma?
Karina: Zander would never change of his own volition; he was too deep in denial and his defenses were too good. A sledgehammer was the only way to get through to the guy! Finding Elizabeth (like finding Nemo!) was a real challenge because in Zander I already had a fully formed character who easily commanded centrestage.
I knew she had to be his opposite but I tried to subvert every trope and leaven it with truth. For example, she’s a good girl with a propensity for secret affairs (though she rationalizes them). And ministers kids do get exposed to a lot of different, often troubled, people, through their parents’ ministry. They learn how to handle themselves.
The key to Elizabeth’s character arrived for me when she said this: “Don’t knock the well-behaved. We’re the backbone of society, mostly doing the right thing because somebody has to. We don’t create drama because we’ve done the hard yards cleaning up after those who do. Maybe we’re not the color, but we’ re the weft and the weave, the cloth that holds families and communities together. Being normal isn’t humanity’s glory job, but it is important.” From that moment, I ‘got’ her. In terms of standing up to Zander, I made her as strong in her sense of self as he was. And he got that, very quickly. They became good friends before they became lovers.
Sarah: This book has a lot of twists on familiar romance tropes and themes. There’s a little bit of Cinderella story with Elizabeth on tour with them and her introduction to Zander’s wealthy life, and there’s a little – or a lot – of reforming the bad boy, too. Sort of on an epic scale! What other themes do you see in this story (if you see any – some writers, I know, try not to look too closely, which is totally understandable!)? What are some of your favorites to read?
Karina: I absolutely love adding layers and resonance and referencing the romance canon, and I know that sounds arty and pretentious, but it’s all about sharing sly in-jokes with your tribe. I was a romance reader for thirty years before I aspired to be an author. As a reader, I have assumptions about how certain storylines or archetypes will play out. As a writer, I want to twist that assumption or beloved trope – the preachers daughter who has a wild side; the bad boy who falls in love first; an ex who is sweet and kind; a buddy love subplot between the women in the story.
Kids who are tough-talking dictators (FYI, my heroine will never give birth to twins and be either radiant or up for all night rumpy-pumpy two weeks later). The reader in me informs the writer, and then the writer gives it her best shot.
Fish out of water, bad boy reformed, friends to lovers, I love them all. And yes, they’re all in this book – hopefully in an organic way.
Sarah: Last question – are you reading any books you recommend right now?
Beyond fantastic is Lorraine Heath’s western Always to Remember about a Civil War conscientious objector. It’s not a new book, it was published in 1996 and is out of print – but it’s now available digitally. I bought it because Wendy the Super Librarian raved about it and I’m very susceptible to raves. Wendy wrote that “authors would start sacrificing virgins if the the outcome created a story like this one, it’s that good.” And she’s so right. I’ve got a virgin tied to a stake in the garden as we speak.
I’m also reading Joanna Bourne’s brilliantly written Rogue Spy and Meljean Brooks’ The Kraken King…her Iron Seas series always blows me away.
And I’m chuckling away at The Trouble with Dying a contemporary by Maggie Le Page, which has lovely black humor:
“When Faith Caron wakes up on a hospital ceiling looking down at her body in a coma, it’s a bad start to the week. She has no idea who she is or how she go there or why and the biggest mystery of all is why she married the schmuck who wants her ventilator switched off.”
Thank you to Karina for taking the time to do the interview, and for offering a print and digital copy to give away here. Yay!
Per Karina, who lives in New Zealand, “No geographical exclusions for the print book!” Thank you, ma’am!
So if you’d like to win a copy of Rise, please leave a comment below and tell us what character you wish would get his or her own story – even if it’s a villain. Especially if it’s a villain! I’ll draw two names at random on Sunday 22 February and announce the winner that day. Good luck!
The Winners!
Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway! The winners are: tealadytoo and Violet Bick. Congratulations!
Shameless self-promotion, but I gave the villain, Eddie C, in my first rock star book, T’s Trial, his own book as the second in the series, C’s Comeuppance. Hero that he becomes, I tried to keep some of his “boys will be boys”-ness about him throughout the series. He would just say what everyone else was thinking.