Interview & Giveaway with Berinn Rae

I am so thrilled to have the lovely Berinn Rae on the blog today!  Berinn is the author of the Urban Fantasy series Guardians of the Seven Seals and she was kind enough to answer some of my questions!

The second novel in the series, Hellbound, was released on March 27^th.  And to celebrate, Berinn is giving away a copy of this novel AND a copy of the first novel in the series, Knightfall.  (Details below)

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Author Summary…  

Everyone has monsters under the bed...

The Seven Seals are said to be all that stands between humanity’s survival and the end of days. Led by a reclusive angel, the Seven are immortals, enhanced by the marks they bear. After centuries of bloodshed, the Seven and their Guardians have brought down the nefarious Dominion. But the world isn’t safe yet. Now, a rogue hellhound is building an army to claim the Seven Seals for himself.

But what if you're one of them?

In one night, Lana Wolfe’s life was destroyed and she was reborn a walking nightmare. A year later, she dedicates her life to destroying others like her. That is, until she discovers Orion Benandanti, the Alpha of all hellhounds and host to the Third Seal. But when the hunter becomes the hunted and Orion’s Seal is put at risk, the only way to survive is for Lana to trust the man who very well may destroy her soul. Will she let him claim her—for the Seal’s protection and for a passion forged in hell’s hottest fires?

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Welcome Berinn!  I understand that this is a debut series for you in this genre.  How did your love of paranormal and Urban Fantasy start?  And have you always wanted to write UF?

Thank you so much for having me! Let’s see… I’ve loved speculative fiction for as long as I could read. I started with comic books, moved onto Sci Fi and Fantasy, and then finally discovered paranormal romance and urban fantasy through Sherrilyn Kenyon and Patricia Briggs. I’ve always been a ravenous reader as well as an incurable daydreamer. Put the two together, and it was only a matter of time (well, a little over two years ago) before I fell completely in love with writing.

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Would you share with readers what the series is about?

Protected by the Guardians, the Seven are immortals enhanced by the marks, or Seals, that they bear. Things were going okay until a dark angel with a superiority complex started a war that has begun to spill over to claim human lives. Then, all hell starts to break loose. Literally.

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I really like how you set up the series so that the focus of each novel can be a particular member of the Seven (as you did with Hellbound) or a Guardian (as you did with Knightfall).  It leaves future novels open to all kinds of possibilities. Well done!

Do you have a plan for how the rest of the series will go?  How many more novels do you anticipate?

Well… I don’t have contracts in place for the series. I had envisioned seven books, and I do have the third book already outlined. It stars Rafe, a Guardian with a dark past.

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Rafe?  That’s awesome!!  I’ve a feeling he has a very interesting past.  And of course, Seven Seals – Seven books.  Makes perfect sense!  So, why hellhounds?  I must say it was a first time reading about that type of shifter and I have to say that I’m now a big fan thanks to Orion.

So glad to hear it! Since the premise of the series involves the seven seals, I wanted to keep the biblical theme consistent. And, hellhounds were one of the first to come to mind.

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Something I’m always curious about is how authors come up with ideas for characters. 

You are very skilled at character development and you have even the given the supporting characters life and identities.  Orion and Lana are two of the best characters I’ve read with a wonderful relationship.  I ended up really caring for the characters in this novel.  I felt happy when things went right for them and fretted when they didn’t.

Do you usually base your characters off people you know, yourself or do you just let your imagination run wild?

Before I start writing, I put together pretty detailed character bios. For every character, I usually have a photo of some model to serve as my muse, and then the character begins to develop him- or herself from there!

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What surprises you most about becoming an author?

I knew there’d be rewrites and edits and proofreading, but I never imagined how much work goes into turning a story into a publishable novel. It gives me a huge appreciation for editors and the magic they word.

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What is your best advice for aspiring authors?

Getting published is simple: set your goal and then work harder than everyone else to achieve it!

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If you weren’t an author, what would you be doing instead?

I absolutely LOVE the written word. If I weren’t writing it, for the sake of my happiness, I’d have to be reading it. So, I think I’d had a lot of fun being book reviewer/blogger like you, Kat!

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Would you tell us about what you are working on now?

I’m just wrapping up a standalone novella – titled Stealing Fate – that is part of a sexy anthology about the Greek Fates. Each story in the antho stars a Fate and will be released as a separate ebook first. Creating Fate by Rachel Firasek comes out July 10, Stealing Fate by yours truly comes out July 24, and Chasing Fate by Elle J Rossi (her debut) comes out August 7. Working with these talented writers has been so much fun, and I’m so very excited for the release!

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I absolutely love mythology so I’ll be checking those out for sure.  So, are there any appearances, conferences or tours planned that you’d like your readers to know about?

I’ll be at RT Booklover’s Convention in Chicago all next week, so I hope to meet some new faces there.

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Thank you Berinn for being so generous with your time!  I loved having you here and can’t wait to read more about the adventures of your Guardians!

Thanks so much for having me, Kat!

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Contact Berinn

| Website | Twitter | Facebook | GoodReads |

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Berinn’s Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Hellbound, the second novel in the Guardians of the Seven Seals series, Berinn is giving away a copy of this novel AND a copy of the first novel in the series, Knightfall. 

To enter, just fill out the Rafflecopter form and we’ll draw for the winner on April 10^th.  Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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