For months I’ve been going on about Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison. Good news, it’s available now! Thea Harrison is here today to talk about the land of make-believe, and to giveaway a copy of Dragon Bound.
Check it out:
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Why do we like made-up worlds so much?
My roommates recently bought a beautiful house in a very nice neighborhood. It has a stylish kitchen with a breakfast nook that is filled with sunshine in the mornings.
The breakfast nook’s windows face the house next door, which is not so beautiful. I’ve had many breakfasts there, contemplating that house. There are cracks in the side of the building. The gutters are in poor shape. In lieu of curtains, a sagging blanket hangs in one basement window, and all the window panes need painting. A strange, dilapidated deck juts out from one window, the house’s very own “bridge to nowhere.” Clearly the place is unoccupied. At least someone comes to take care of the lawn.
One morning my roommates and I were eating breakfast. They were chatting. I was off in la-la land, a place I often visit. I kept staring at that basement window with the sagging blanket. What was that book I read when I was sixteen? I sneaked it into all of my classes and read it under the covers at night. My parents would have had a total fit if they had known. I loved that book. I’d never read anything like it before in my life, and it scared the socks off me. It wasn’t perfect. It frustrated me too, as did the TV movie that was based on it. Don’t go into the basement of that abandoned house, you stupid heroine. Ah yes, I remembered. It was Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot.
I took a bite of my oatmeal and said, “Think there’s a vampire in that basement.”
My roommates paused and turned to regard me with the kind of loving indulgence reserved for one’s crack-brained relative. “Excuse me?” one said. Politely, I thought, even gently.I nodded to the house. “I said I think there’s a vampire in that basement. Pretty sure he can fly too. He uses that deck as a launch pad at night when nobody’s watching.”
Of course I had to explain myself, and ever since then we’ve made up many stories about the house next door. Shape shifters come and go. They’re the winged kind that also needs a launch pad. Apparently, too, they don’t mind climbing in and out of the window where the deck is attached to the house (we’re truly intrigued by that and at a loss for any real explanation).Naturally the real story is not as outlandish. The owner lives at another address, and she recently evicted renters that damaged the property. Either she doesn’t have the money or she is unwilling to fix up the place, and the housing market has not been robust, so for now it sits vacant.
If you’re anything like me, and if you’re reading this blog there’s a good chance we have a few things in common, then you’re probably interested in both the made-up world and the real story. But why are we so interested in created worlds? Humans have always told stories about the world around them. No doubt we’ve done so ever since we invented language. What is it that draws us to them? Because we really are intrigued by the odd world around us and at a loss for any real explanation?
Well, that’s especially true in a historical sense, but created worlds also provide us a potent venue where we can express ourselves in ways we might not otherwise be able to. Our imagination can take astonishing flights of fancy. Sometimes the created world can be a place of healing and mercy, especially when life in the physical world becomes out of control and intolerable. Sometimes our created worlds are the places that are filled with horror.Why else do we like creating worlds? It’s weird, it’s cheap, and it’s fun. Sure, all of that too.
More than that, it’s empowering. We get to be heroes and the heroines that discover new worlds and new civilizations, that boldly go where no one has gone before, that save our much-loved homes and families by making the hard journey and destroying the ring. We get to fall in love, maybe for the first or only time in our lives. For a little while, we get to experience what it is like to be male, or female, or something altogether alien. We get to recognize that maybe a little something of that horrible monster lives in us too, and we don’t have to give that part of ourselves free rein. We can find ways to defeat it, just like we do in stories.
Or maybe, just like in some of the stories, the horrible monster wins. Ooh, creepy.
Maybe sometimes the monster is not that bad of a guy. Maybe the monster ends up being pretty damn nice. Maybe once in a while the monster is the hero, or the heroine. Ooh, cool.As a librarian, a lifelong reader and a writer, I believe that when we have that empowering experience in our minds, we get bigger inside. We are more likely to go on to have empowering experiences in our real lives. Part of the strange and gorgeous universe we live in is in our own heads, and the only thing that limits us is ourselves.
I love fantasy and science fiction, and I’m beyond thrilled to be able to work in the paranormal romance genre. Developing the Elder Races series has been some of the best fun I’ve had in years, and I hope to be able to create more fantasy worlds for many years to come.
Since this is one of my favorite subjects ever, I wanted to ask you which fantasy worlds are your favorites? Which created worlds can you return to again and again, and why?<\b>
Two lucky commenters will win a copy of DRAGON BOUND!
Thanks to Thea Harrison for being kind enough to guest blog with us today. She’s giving away a copy of her book Dragon Bound to one lucky commenter and Berkley has offered to throw in one more copy to another lucky commenter. So don’t be shy, share your favorite fantasy worlds with us and you just might win your very own copy of this book!
Good luck!
Favorite worlds? Wow, there are so many. LOL. I always go back to David Webber’s Honor Harrington, Nalini Singh’s Psy/Changeling, and Shelly Laurenston’s Pride or Dragon series. These worlds are so rich that I still enjoy them even when individual books aren’t my favorites. My true guilty pleasure is Batman/Catwoman in all forms but especially as the fanfiction, Cat Tales written by Chris Dee.
I agree with CK there are so many out there to choose from. To add to the ones already mentioned I like Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter world (Angels, yum!), Ilona Andrews’s Kate Daniel series (awesome world creation!), and and Patricia Briggs’s Mercy Thompson and Alpha/Omega series (both great with lots of action plus romance thrown in too).
I’m with CK on the Honor Harrington and the Psi/Changling ones, but the others I consistently return to are The Talents world and Pern by Anne McCaffrey and The Velgarth world by Mercedes Lackey.
I think it’s because all the authors make their worlds so real and livable even if they aren’t our world.
Oh man…. So many to chose from.
I LOVE St. Louis according to the Anita Blake series.
I LOVE Nalini Singh’s Archangel world.
They both just completely fascinate me!
Congrats on your release. I have many good things and I can’t wait to get my hands on it!
Gena Showalter’s world in her Atlantis series is amazeballs…I love the way it is described and the craziness that goes on there!
Thanks for the giveaway 😉
Katie W
Katiewalthall AT ymail DOT com
I love these fantasy worlds! There’s a few I haven’t read, so I’m adding them to my TBR list! Thanks for commenting, and I hope you all enjoy DRAGON BOUND!
All the best,
Thea Harrison
Congratulations on Dragon Bound. There is so much buzz about it and I can’t wait to read it. At to favorite worlds-there are so many. I love Kresely Cole’s, both of Nalini Singh’s, Lords of the Underworld and Alien Huntress of Gena Showalter. I’m always on the lookout for more that I can get swept away with.
Larissa Ione’s Demonica, Nalini Singh’s PSY/Changeling and JD Robb’s In Death world.
Soo many great worlds out there that are created in books. One of the many reasons I love to get lost in a book is to leave my sometimes hectic and stressful life behind and get immersed in a world that catches my attention and imagination. I love the world Jocelynn Drake created in her Dark Days series. Everything is dark and twisted. I also loved the world of Imperia that Gena Showalter created in her two books The Stone Prince and The Pleasure Slave. Though the characters who were from that world were lost in our world, those brief visits and glimpses we had of imperia were breathtaking I wanted so much more from that world. Last but not least, how can I not bring up the demonica world created by Larissa Ione. That crazy demon world that is right underneath our feet 🙂
june111(at)att(dot)net
My favourite SFF worlds are still Tolkein’s Middle Earth, Kay’s Fionavar and the worlds created by Michelle Sagara West in her Sun Sword and Cast books. I also love Meljean Brook’s worlds in her Guardian and Iron Seas books and Nalini Singhs worlds in her Guild Hunter and Psy Changeling series. I am really looking forward to reading Dragon Bound.
Caldwell, NY where the Black Dagger Brotherhood hang out. Wherever Kitty (Carrie Vaughn) is currently visiting. Likewise Mercy Thompson, if she’s not in the Tri-Cities of WA State.
goddessani at gmail dot com
I have so many favorites. I love the worlds that Gena Showalter, JR Ward, Kresley Cole, Larissa Ione, Juliana Stone, Lara Adrian, and Alexandra Ivy have created. They are all so created and realistic that it doesn’t feel made up or fake. It seems like some place I would like to live in.
iqb99@yahoo.com
Ah, I don’t have any bookstore near me to pick up a paperback copy! I’m going to pick up an e-copy but would love to have pb if I can. Can’t wait to read this after dinner tonight!
It’s pretty obvious we all love the same books, and you’ve already mentioned some of my favorite worlds. A couple more for the list are Kim Harrison’s Hollow series, Lora Leigh’s breed world and Jaye Wells, Sabina Kane series. The worldbuilding by these author’s shows such imagination, and I love returning for more characters and storylines.
caity_mack at yahoo dot com
My favorite fantasy world would have to be the one created by Kresley Cole in her Immortals After Dark series. I love that series! There are all kinds of fantasy creatures in there and they all seem to fit!
On a side note: second first comment. I swear I wasn’t stalking the site because there was mention of a giveaway *shifty eyes*
I really like Michelle Bardsley books she has some great books. And Jayne Castle aka JAK has a great fantasy worlds too! Thanks for sharing!
evjochum[AT]aol[DOT]com
Before I ever read books set in fantasy worlds my favorites where Historical Romances set in Medieval times, in Scotland or Regency England. So to find fantasy worls based on those same places is an extra draw.
sallans d at yahoo dot com
My favorite fantasy worlds are
Gena Showalter’s-Atlantis series
JR Wards-BDB
Richelle Mead-Vampire Academy
Rachel Vincent’s Shifter world.
Can’t wait to read Dragon Bound
elaing8(at)netscape(dot)net
Some of my favorites are Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate, Nalini’s Psy-Changling, Harry Potter, and the early Carpathians by Feehan. I love the shapeshifters!
I can’t pick just one fantasy world – I love the world I’m in based on the book I’m reading!!
kac books at hotmail dot com
I have many favorite world(s). But since I just finished the latest October Daye book, let me just say that I love the Fae world McGuire has created.
This book in on my TBB list. I have heard soo much good things about it that I’m itching to get my hands on it!
I enjoy many Urban Fantasy and SciFi worlds, including Linnea Sinclair’s Dock Five Universe, Jennifer Estep’s Elemental Assassin town of Ashland, Jeaniene Frost’s Night Huntress and Kelly Gay’s Charlie Madigan’s worlds.
Barbed1951 at aol dot com
Sounds great. I have a lot of favorites but my all time favorite is the Night Huntress world.
bacchus76 at myself dot com
Love Kenyon’s and Ione’s worlds. In truth there are sooo many cool and fasinating worlds out there that UF/PNR authors have created… one of main reasons I never will never get tired of the subgenre.
Pam S
pams00 @ aol.com
Fav worlds, well I do like fantasy world but moistly they are war war and war. Still I would love to visit Robert Jordan’s world. As for a PNR/UF world then I do like Kresley Cole’s world
If open to all then yes I so wanna win this one.
blodeuedd1 at gmail dot com
So many to choose from…but I think one of the first fantasy worlds I ever yearned to visit were Anne McCaffrey’s creations. She has the most amazing vision when it comes to an entirely new world.
julieguan AT gmail DOT com
I love the worlds creeated in Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling books, JR Ward’s BDB books, and the world of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter.
Your book sounds great.
I can’t get enouhg of Ilona Andrews worlds – both her series are my favorites and I can read the books again and again 🙂 her writing and world building is incredible and I can’t put the books down while reading – it’s like they are real.
greetings, Ina
inale87 at gmx dot at
I’ll start with movies and then go to books. I love to imagine Star Trek and Star Wars sagas and have been known to inhabit Buffy’s world on occasion. As far as books go the IAD series by Cole, the Psy/changeling series by Singh, Meljean Brook’s worlds, the dark-hunter and League series by Kenyon, and Pride and Prejudice.
marlenebreakfield(at)yahoo(dot)com
Thanks for the great giveaway, this book looks great. would love to win.
I love fantasy books. I love charlaine harris-sookie stackhouse, laurell k hamilton-anita blake and merry gentry, jeaniene frost-night huntress series & world, patricia briggs-mercy thompson & alpha & omega, and kim harrison-hallows series. just to name a few.
christinebails@yahoo.com
I love Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. Another fantasy world that isn’t strictly fantasy (no supernatural stuff) is P. G. Wodehouse’s Edwardian England in his Jeeves and Wooster stories – after all, the real Edwardian England was nothing like Wodehouse’s.
ironss [at] gmail [dot]com
Larissa Ione’s Demonica world is one of my favorites. I can’t wait to read how she spins it off into the Immortal Rider world.
user1123 AT comcast DOT net