Ok, so let's get to it. I've been waiting and waiting for my date on this tour since I read the book. I just love this story beyond pieces, it is definitely one of my favorites this year. On top of all that I was lucky enough to also get a chance to interview the author, Kitty Thomas! She was (ok, is) super nice and I really look forward to working with her more in the future! So without further ado, here is the interview. I hope everyone enjoys it, and I hope you all get a chance to read this fabulous story!
Check out my review HERE
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Hello Kitty! It is
such a pleasure to meet you! Thank you
for taking the time to stop by Fictional Candy on your tour with Dark Mind Book
Tours!
Thanks for having me!
First, lets start with the story. The Last Girl. I don’t want to gush, but oh lordy, this book
was beyond wonderful. What can you tell
the readers about this story?
Ha! Thank you! I love that you’ve
read (and liked!) The Last Girl before the interview because it gives us an
opportunity to talk about things we might not be talking about otherwise. The
Last Girl is basically about Christian’s internal struggle with his nature,
which I know sounds weird since most of the book happens in Juliette’s POV.
But, in my opinion, he’s the one with the biggest struggle. I think seeing it
through the eyes of one of his pets, though, really drives home what the stakes
are.
He’s not apologetic about what he is
(vampire), and he isn’t a human with fangs, but he desperately wants to love
someone and hold onto them without killing them, and he’s never been able to
succeed at that before. Seriously, I hurt when he hurts.
I really can’t decide which character I like more, Juliette
or Christian. Ok, its totally
Christian! He is bad in such a good way,
completely blunt and honest… so raw in his beauty. Was there any specific inspiration for him?
Christian just “is”. I can’t point
to anybody or anything that specifically inspired him because he just popped up
in my head one day. I’m sure M inspired parts of him (he seems to see a lot of
himself in certain characters of mine under both of my pen names. Cain in the
Zoe series is SO M, lol.)
I will say that the dream in
Juliette’s opening sequence is a dream I actually had and once I had that, the
rest of the story started to fall into place. Dreams often inspire books or
parts of books for me. Christian did show up in a dream, but it was after the
book had first been released. And let me say... he is SCARY. I mean he didn’t DO
anything scary, he just IS scary. I had to go back to sleep with the light on.
Nope. Just a coincidence. I’ve
always found the name Christian for a guy really sexy. I don’t know why. I
don’t really associate it with the religion when it’s a guy’s name. Though, I
will admit it’s a somewhat ironic name for a vampire.
Now Kitty, some people may know you as author Zoe Winters,
and you make no issue about disguising the use of two pen names. Does it ever become difficult for you, to
sort of keep up two parts of the same person?
Well, I used to keep it seriously
under wraps because my family is super religious and I didn’t want them to have
to deal with drama/fallout from their daughter/granddaughter/etc. writing dirty
fiction. My grandmother wishes I’d write something that didn’t have sex or
profanity in it. My grandfather was more to the point. He asked what I made
doing it and then when I told him he said I could write whatever I wanted to
write. LOL!
Eventually, though I had to just
come out of the pen name closet because it was too draining keeping it a secret
and there was weirdly a LOT of Zoe/Kitty fan crossover. Even though, at the
time, my two pen names weren’t cross promoting or following each other on
Twitter or anything like that. A few people even figured it out, so I
thought... meh... I may as well come “out” about it. And also, I didn’t want
someone else to end up outing me and then it look like I (as Zoe) was ashamed
of the Kitty stuff. I’m really proud of the Kitty stuff.
As for the two parts thing... the
only thing really difficult is figuring out how to write romance sex (for Zoe).
I find vanilla sex so boring I don’t even know how to describe it. But I don’t
want to totally “kink up” the Zoe stuff. I want it to be more
mainstream/accepted by a more mainstream audience. So there is definitely a
sort of D/s subtext in all the relationships/stories in the Zoe books, but when
it comes to the actual sex, I try to get in and out of there as quickly as
possible! It’s much easier for me to write Kitty sex where I don’t have to hold
anything back.
The Last Girl is much more dark erotica than erotic
romance. Where do you draw the line for
your characters to cross or not cross?
Thank you for saying that! I
definitely do not consider the Kitty stuff romance. I’m not writing traditional
HEAs. I’m not following the rules of romance. And characters may die. I’m
making no promises. I mainly just don’t want my characters to get “too
vanilla”, which sometimes that’s weirdly a risk because I still want the work
to be palatable. The biggest distinction is... whether or not there is
obsession or love involved... it’s not about love... it’s about ownership. It’s
about the fact that he owns her. Period. So it’s not really a seduction. It’s
not about her falling for him and them living happily ever after. It’s about
her accepting his power over her and finding a way to live inside it. And
that’s what all the Kitty books are about in one way or another.
Big question, would you have tried to escape from Christian?
Yes. He’s terrifying.
I found this book to be the perfect blend of paranormal,
erotica, darkness, and emotion. I’d love
for the answer to this question to be yes…. Will we see more of Christian
and/or Juliette in any upcoming books?
I don’t think so. This really isn’t
the kind of book I want to expand upon or write a sequel to. I think it would
ruin it. I don’t want to monkey with a good thing. I told the story exactly how
I wanted to tell it the first time; I’m not willing to risk doing anything to
screw that up. Plus, I think a sequel would risk making it “romance-y”, and
their story isn’t a romance.
If there is one thing you would like readers to take from
your Kitty Thomas books, what would that be?
Submission isn’t weakness.
(Well said!!)
Social media is a giant that is taking over everything… how
do you feel about it all? Do you have
any favorite social media outlets where we might find you at more than others?
I have a love/hate relationship with
social media. But I’m on Twitter and my blog mostly. (You can get those links below, readers!)
Ok, lets lighten it up a bit.
Favorite website? I hate the
Internet. But I need it. So here I am.
Favorite city? I don’t like cities.
(I’m so disagreeable today! LOL)
That’s about it for now.
Thank you so much Kitty for your time.
I truly appreciate it and I look forward to reading more of your books
in the future!
Thanks! I have 3 other novels and 3
novellas out at Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords for you to peruse at your
leisure. ;)
Here are a couple of my favorite covers! :)
Kitty On The Web
And no, I didn't forget to leave you the synopsis. Here it is! Enjoy!
Six years ago strangers broke into Juliette’s house; she was home alone and only thirteen. She kept her eyes closed, praying that if she didn’t see anything, she wouldn’t be killed. No one harmed her. In fact, one of the thieves protected her. Now Juliette’s dreams are haunted by him.
Christian has waited to take her, resisting the urge each night. It always ends badly with human pets. They’re too fragile. The longer he can wait, the better, because the moment he takes her, the clock on her life starts ticking down.
Then she’ll be gone forever.
Warning: This book is dark erotica meant for a mature audience only
