Interview & #Giveaway with Laken Cane: Shiv Crew (Rune Alexander #1)

Hello ladies and gents, please help me welcome author Laken Cane to the lair. She’s here to introduce her new book Shiv Crew (sounds sooo good) Pull up a chair grab a drink and enjoy the interview. There will be a giveaway for a copy of the book at the end.

Tell us a little about your book?

LC: Shiv Crew is a darker urban fantasy about a rather broken woman, her crew, and their battle to protect the people—and the monsters—of River County.

How do you deal with unruly characters? When they won’t cooperate and don’t do what you expected.

LC: My characters are always surprising me and mostly I just let them do what they need to do. I’m not afraid to show them who’s boss, though, when they get a little too out of control!

What 3 things would your main character never leave the house without?

LC: Blades, a gun, and coffee.

You can only pick 3 words to describe your main characters…what would they be?

LC: Damaged, loyal, fearless

Which was the easiest character to write and the hardest ~ and why?

LC: Wow. Hard questions! I get attached to all my characters, but I have to say I most easily wrote Rune—my heroine. Not because she’s easy to write, but because I understand what makes her the way she is. Why she craves pain, why she is so tortured, why she’s determined to save the world. It’s dark in her head.

Lex might have been the most difficult to write. Her past is full of horror—abuse, hatred, neglect, fear—and I have to keep the results of that in her personality while showing that she’s still full of promise and loyalty and sweetness. She’s Lex. She’s not her past.

(If this is a series) How many books are you shooting for in this series?

It is a series—the Rune Alexander series—and I really don’t know how many books I’ll write. I can’t imagine not writing about Rune and the crew. So…quite a few of them 😉

Since we’re cover hussies….what was your first impression of your cover?

LC: I adore my cover. It’s mysterious and beautiful and the bloody tear is awesome. I already have the cover for book two, and it’s just a gorgeous.

What are you currently working on?

LC: I’m in edits for book two—Blood and Bite—and writing book three. I haven’t decided on a title for book three yet.

What’s one thing that you enjoy about writing?

LC: When I’m in the zone and words are flowing, there’s no feeling like it. It’s very satisfying. J

How do you deal with writers block?

LC: Hmmm. I don’t really have times when I can’t write. Sometimes I’ll get stuck halfway through a story but that’s my own fault for not thinking it through. I’m not a plotter. So when I find myself staring at a blank screen I usually just have to do a bit of backtracking. When the storyline is back on track, I’m good to go.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

LC: I’m back in college, so I have to study a lot. Between the writing and the reading and the studying, I sometimes forget there is anything other than words! But I do go out or get together with friends, or go shopping. Also I try to make sure I work out on the elliptical four or five days a week. I call that taming the beast. And when the mood strikes me, I play video games 😉

 What do you prefer ebooks or paperbacks?

LC: eBooks. I love my Kindle and take it with me everywhere—even to school. I have a couple of my textbooks on my Kindle J

 Is there a genre you would like to write but are a little apprehensive to try?

LC: I’m thinking of writing a post-apocalyptic. I love to read them so I’m sure I will someday write one.

Okay…. personal time!!!! Oh yeah, I go there… Hahaha…

 

If you thought you were safe… Nah… Forget it… Not a chance! We will start off slow and easy, I promise!

What is on your night stand/dresser?

LC: In, or on? 😉 In my nightstand—I might need to keep that information to myself! On my nightstand is a phone, my 3DS on its dock, a Kindle, a framed photo of someone very special who is no longer with me, and my iPad mini. On my dresser I have a 54 inch flat screen, a Blu-ray player, an Xbox 360, and a Wii U. Can you tell I like gadgets? J

What are you listening to right now?

LC: Adrenalize by In This Moment

  What are you reading right now?

LC: Wool by Hugh Howey. I’m loving it J

 What’s the last thing you Googled?

LC: “Indie Book Reviewers”

**

QUICKIE TIME

Dark or Milk Chocolate?

LC: Milk

Whipped or Melted?

LC: Whipped

Straight up or with a twist – sex?

LC: Twisty

Junk or Health Food?

LC: Health food

Soft or Hard… Bed, where was your mind?

LC: Oh! Well, if it’s bed, soft. J

Sexiest feature on a man?

LC: Omg, I can’t pick one

Boxers, Briefs or Commando?

LC: Boxers

Left or right handed?

LC: Lefty

Twitter or Facebook?

LC: Facebook

Pinterest or not?

LC: Meh. I tried it, but it wasn’t for me.

**

Where can your fans find you?

www.lakencane.com

www.facebook.com/laken.cane.3

Twitter : @lakencane

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Thank you guys so much for helping me get the word out about Shiv Crew! You’re awesome. Hugs and peenches J

TITLE: Shiv Crew, Book One in the Rune Alexander series

GENRE/S: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal

BUY LINK: Amazon

You can read the first chapter for free at Amazon

Blurb:

Rune Alexander wants to get through her days doing her job, which is protecting the humans against the myriad of supernatural creatures, known as Others, who exist uneasily in a human’s world.

 But she is unstable and damaged. She realizes how broken she is even as she continues to submit to the unspeakable things her lover does to her, craving desperately the strange peace she finds in the aftermath.

When she discovers things are not as they seem and a faceless human is torturing the supernatural groups in her city, she and her crew must break the rules and begin to protect the Others from the humans.

But as the darkness inside her becomes stronger and she ends up on the wrong side of a battle she must not lose, who will save Rune from herself?

Rune grabbed her shoulders. “Calm down. I’m not going after Llodra. I don’t believe he had anything to do with Lex’s attack. I just need to know if you’ve heard anything about…” She hesitated, not wanting to put ideas in the girl’s head. “COS?”

Amy opened her mouth, then snapped her now tear-filled eyes to something behind Rune.

Sure Amy’s father had returned, Rune let go of the girl and turned to ask him for a minute more. But it wasn’t Amy’s father.

It was the berserker.

He had slipped into the room and leaned against the wall, his face blank.

“How much did you hear, you fucking bastard?” Oh shit, if he told Jeremy…

“Get the fuck out, Matheson.”

“I have a question for the girl.”

“Again?” Amy wailed. “I already told you everything.”

He smiled. “Oh, I doubt that.”

“If you don’t want to talk to him, tell him to fuck off. You’re not under arrest, Amy.”

“I’ve been cooperating,” Amy said, climbing back into bed. “I like Strad. I don’t like Cross. He’s not a good person even if he’s not…” She looked knowingly at Rune. “You know. Besides, they need to know the vampires aren’t the ones killing the humans.”

Rune could have explained to her that it didn’t matter. Jeremy was determined to purge the vampires. But she didn’t. Let Amy think she was making a difference. “You have my cell number. Call me if you think of anything else.”

She threw Strad a cool look and sauntered past him. She was ready for it when he shot a hand out and grabbed her arm—so ready that before he could complete his grasp she had a shiv to his chest, right above his heart.

“Whoa,” Amy said.

She didn’t think he’d be too quick to move, especially since she had another shiv pressing into his balls.

“I don’t like when people grab me, Berserker. This is the only warning I’m going to give you. Next time, I’ll take one of your nuts. Understand?”

Fucker didn’t look scared. That made her mad, so she pressed the shiv into his chest just enough to draw blood.

He narrowed his eyes. “I, too, have a warning. When a woman is this close to my cock, one of two things is going to happen. I’m going to whip her ass, or I’m going to consider it foreplay.” He put his hands on his hips, insultingly unconcerned. “Which do you prefer, Ms. Alexander?”

Amy clapped her hands, laughing. “He won’t hurt you, Rune. I’ve talked to him before. He just likes to pretend he’s all mean and shit. But oh my God.”

Both Rune and Strad looked at the girl to see what she was so excited about.

She pointed at them. “You two…you kind of look alike. All that wavy black hair, big blue eyes…you look the same, in a different way.”

Rune gaped.

“Oh not like family, or anything,” Amy continued, “but like…warriors from the same village. Imagine if you had babies. They’d be gorgeous.”

It wasn’t bad enough that Strad insulted her with pretty much every word he’d spoken, but Amy just made it worse. As she debated the merits of explaining to Amy that she wasn’t worried about Strad hurting her—he should have been worried about her hurting him—Amy’s father ambled back into the room.

Or tried to. Rune and the berserker were blocking his entrance. And he had a nurse right behind him.

Rune sighed and put her shivs away. “Another time, Berserker.”

Laken Cane is the pseudonym of a published author
currently living in the Midwest. Shiv Crew is her debut book under this
pseudonym and the first in the Rune Alexander series. You can learn more about
her and join her mailing list at http://www.lakencane.com, follow her on Twitter
@lakencane, and friend her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/laken.cane.3

Laken is giving away an e-copy of Shiv Crew

Click on the link below and fill out the form

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I will pick a winner Sunday

Good Luck!

Thank you Laken for stopping by the lair 🙂

Posted by All I Want and More on September 5, 2013

https://alliwantandmorebooks.wordpress.com/2013/09/05/interview-giveaway-with-laken-cane-shiv-crew-rune-alexander-1/