Bad Mouth blog tour: Interview with Angela McCallister + giveaway!

Today we have a new visitor here on Team Tynga's Reviews: debut Entangled author Angela McCallister. She's on tour to celebrate the release of BAD MOUTH, a paranormal romance with vampires galore. I hope you'll enjoy the interview, and make sure to enter the two -- that's right, TWO! -- giveaways we have for you today.

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Welcome to Team Tynga's Reviews! To start, can you tell us a bit about the world you've created for BAD MOUTH?
Thank you, Jenn, for inviting me! In Bad Mouth, a dual-caste vampire society, the Immortalis, maintains a delicate balance while trying to peacefully coexist alongside humans—well, most of them try ☺ I wasn’t so interested in traditional vampires, so the Immortalis don’t change into smoke, bats or wolves, and religious symbols are a non-issue. In spite of the Immortalis name given them by earlier civilizations, they’re not immortal. A well-placed bullet could kill one of them. I imagined there would be wide-spread panic if vampires became known to humans in reality so in my world the society is regulated by treaties with the humans via a Vampire Liaison Office. This is partially why the castes are at odds, and it’s also what’s at risk when vampire-on-human murders kick off Val’s role in the beginning.

How did you get started writing paranormal romance?
I went for a walk on a full moon and something bit me. Or I wish it were that dramatic. Really, it’s what I happened to read the most at the time. My first romance loves were Gena Showalter, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Christine Feehan, Nalini Singh, etc. I love all the possibilities for the imagination and having so much control over the world in paranormal. I’m not such a control freak in real life *g*

Why vampires? What makes them so appealing?
I never thought about writing vampires initially. Then I met Alex Skarsgard, spending hours with him while he was on my Destroyer to film Battleship. He was fantastic (and sexy and had his arm around me, lol). Kade’s friend, Ezra, is loosely based on my impressions of Alex in person. Aside from that, I looove vampires. They’ve always had that “bad boy” effect, and you can’t help wanting to be the one to inspire the good in them.

In your opinion, who are the most over- and underrated vampires these days?
Can I plead the fifth??? I don’t begrudge any vampires. However, I do personally prefer my vampires on the darker side, barely leashed, and not sparkly. I recently read the WVMP series, and I adored the concept of the vampires stuck in the rut of their “death” decade. DJ vampires pretending to be humans pretending to be vampires. I enjoy when traditional vampire concepts are modified.

How does your life in the Navy impact/influence your writing?
It’s why I began writing in the first place. Being separated on deployment from family while working ridiculous hours with scarce sleep makes every day endless and repetitive. Reading saved me—a book per day—and then I was challenged to write one and I ran with it. I figured that book would be the end of it, but it wasn’t. It was extremely well-received, and I had requests for a sequel so I wrote it, and then I never stopped, lol. I often include a lot of military mannerisms, especially the language and our tendency to bond and bicker like family, good and bad, when we’re deployed.

Why do you think Kade and Val will appeal to readers?
Kade says outright what’s on his mind, as genuine as they come. He’s alpha without being a completely angsty caveman, and when Val begins to change his view of humans, he doesn’t beat readers’ heads over and over about his hatred. He deals with the next challenge, of which there are plenty. Val is not a typical heroine, and in fact, I don’t often write snarky types. You could consider her an ordinary, though beautiful, woman, who stands out not because she’s warrior-like, but because her dedication and self-esteem give her a backbone even in the face of fear and uncertainty. She’s passionate despite her conservative upbringing and has a strong sense of justice and integrity.

How did you come up with the title BAD MOUTH?
I listened to a song I’d heard hundreds of times, Bad Mouth by Fugazi, an indie rock band. It struck me that title would be a great triple-entendre for a vampire romance. After searching, I found no vampire books by that title so of course I had to write it, lol. The coolest thing ever was that I emailed Fugazi after I sold the book and vocalist Ian personally wrote back to me!!!

And with a title like that, I have to ask: is it easy to write the dirty talk and sex scenes? Or is it a challenge? ;)
Well, I’ve been a Sailor for over sixteen years, and the rumors about our language are no exaggeration. It was a challenge to tone it down! After immersion in jokes about everything for so long, it’s difficult to judge when something will seem offensive to a general reading audience so part of me wanted to go quite a bit further than I did. Kade is definitely offensive enough to shake up conservatively-raised Val’s world ;)

Did you do any research for BAD MOUTH? If so, could you share an interesting bit of trivia that came up?
Heh, I tried to calculate how fast an object would have to travel to be invisible to the eye, and I learned there’s no clear answer. It’s completely dependent on distance and field of view. I also found interesting places around Seattle of which, though I’m from Washington, I wasn’t aware. I love Pike Street Market but never knew about the “gum wall.” Yes, it’s literally a wall of gum with slobber from around the world. Probably. As many times as I’ve been to Seattle, I’ve never visited the Fremont Troll. There truly is a giant troll under the bridge.

You have a three-book deal with Entangled. What can we expect from you next? Any exclusive tidbits you can share?
The next book features another bad vampire. To Alice, Killian (AKA Ian) is just another bad cop as detestable as the one who destroyed her family, and regardless of her attraction to him, she has no respect for the way the vampire threatens his way into her agency’s murder case. Ian doesn’t much care for her judgmental opinions on the way he goes about obtaining justice, but when the new case raises the ghosts of an old case he believed long dead and buried, his law-bending ways could end with his execution. The second Alice becomes a target, his heart that he’d thought murdered along with his maker during that old case flares into blinding existence. The question is will following the law save her or end with a devastating repeat of his past?

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Thank you, Angela, for stopping by! For more Angela, check out her website or follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

You can also see the rest of Angela's blog tour by clicking on the tour button below.

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And here's the scoop on BAD MOUTH:

After her ex-husband’s obsession with vampires, Valerie Craig is on a mission to stop transformations. Of all vampires, Kade Rollins is the worst of the worst, but when multiple murders plague Seattle, Val is forced to enlist his aid. Kade’s crude wit and seductive nature attract her like no other, but she can’t ignore his violence toward his human servants, no matter her yearning to forget.

She’s torn when she learns Kade may be behind the murders. Val's worked hard to protect humans from vampires, but the truth surrounding the murders could ignite a bloody battle between their races, one humans are sure to lose. Someone is pulling strings to build a vampire army and spark the war—setting Kade up to kick it off. But if she trusts the vampire prince, she risks her job, her integrity, and her heart if he betrays her as all the men in her life have.

Purchase: Amazon

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Angela and Entangled are offering two giveaways today!
Make sure to check the Rafflecopter forms for mailing restrictions.

Giveaway #1: One (1) lucky reader will win an e-copy of BAD MOUTH

To enter the giveaway, obey the Rafflecopter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway #2: There is also a tour-wide giveaway of an author-signed paranormal book bundle and a $50 Amazon/B&N gift card

To enter the giveaway, obey the Rafflecopter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Angela McCallister is a US Navy Sailor and author of Paranormal Romance repped by the fabulous Nalini Akolekar. Spoiled by the gorgeous weather of Southern California, she spends her days reading and writing whenever she's lucky enough to be away from work. In fact, she's never to be found without a book hidden somewhere on her person. Over the past two years, her writing has finaled in multiple RWA writing competitions, and her debut Paranormal Romance, BAD MOUTH, won MERWA's 2012 Everything But The Kitchen Sink Competition.

Posted by jenn at 07:19

 Angela McCallister, Entangled, giveaway, Interview  20 People left their mark

Born and raised in the Toronto area, Jenn moved to St. John's, Newfoundland, eight years ago for school. She's still in school (thankfully on another degree!), now trapped in her dissertation. When she's not dissertating, which happens more often than it should, Jenn spends her time reading, watching movies, playing volleyball, travelling, and enjoying the local music scene. Her latest addictions: yoga and Almond Crunch cereal.