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| Scott Prussing, Author The Blue Fire Saga Series |
Author Scott
Prussing writes about vampires in new and different ways. As one reviewer says, he
has “an interesting take on vampires.” Prussing has published five novels in The Blue
Fire Saga series about a college freshman—whose mother was bitten by a
one-fanged vampire—and her vampire hunter boyfriend. He has also produced an
adults only companion piece to The Blue Fire Saga and a collection of short
story “prequels” about the origins of some popular Blue Fire Saga characters.
But there is
more to Purssing than his vampires. He has also written mystery/suspense
novels, a fantasy/adventure novel, and a teen romance based on the hit songs of
Taylor Swift. And—I know you’ll find this even more unbelievable than vampires
–he doesn’t own a cell phone.
Don’t miss the excerpt following his interview.
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the link at the end of this article to check out the FIRST LOVE BLOG HOP and
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Q: Why vampires?
Scott Prussing: I hate to admit it, but
here’s the truth. A friend of mine’s husband, who is an avid reader, read my
unpublished mystery/suspense novel Unturned
Stones and loved it. He knows how hard it is to get anything published and
said offhandedly: “Write something with vampires in it. Anything with vampires
sells.” I thought: I could do that. So I wrote BREATHLESS.
I decided to make it a “Twilight type” book that was not really
like Twilight, if that makes any sense. So I just started thinking about what I
could do differently, but still appeal to that huge audience. Instead of making
vampires the lead characters, I made them the catalyst for much of the action.
I also made them a bit more traditional. I invented supernatural vampire
hunters I call volkaanes and created one-fanged vampires, who are crippled
versions of the real thing. I gave my heroine some definite strengths and
weaknesses, and made sure I had an engrossing storyline with several subplots.
I think I succeeded pretty well, because there are now four sequels to BREATHLESS, with plans for a fifth.
Q: How do you
help readers believe the world and characters you create?
Scott Prussing: I set my Blue
Fire Saga series in a real town in Connecticut that I’m familiar with, but
fitting supernatural characters into a real world, modern day setting is not
easy. I work hard at trying to make sure everything is logical. The last thing
I want is a reader thinking “that doesn’t make sense.”
As
for characters, I give each of them definite strengths and weaknesses, to make
them seem more real. I also try to give each of them at least one special
“thing” that makes them unique and readers can identify with. One example would
be my main character Leesa’s limp.
Q: I am really
looking forward to reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the Vampires
and Zombies. How important is humor to all of your fiction?
Scott Prussing: Humor is very important. I love finding little “witticisms” or jokes
in books I read, so I try to use as much of that as I can in my stories. I like
to say that in addition to romance and mystery, my books have lots of warm
humor in them.
Q: How do you
make us care about your characters? Why do we like your heroes? Why do we hate
your villains?
Scott Prussing: Part of the
answer to this can be found in one of the above questions – people care about
my characters because I try to make them as real as possible. In addition to
definite strengths and weaknesses, I try to make each of them different. I also
put them in situations that lead the reader to like or hate the character. I
remember one reader writing in a review about “a vengeful female vampire I just
wanted to drive a stake into!” I think we can safely say that the reader hated
that character.
Scott Prussing: I like telling
stories and bringing some fun into people’s lives. I also like being my own
boss—and being in control of my time and schedule. I don’t know that there was
one moment when I knew I wanted to be a writer. I started and stopped doing
this several times over the years.
Q: Do you write
purely for entertainment? Or do you incorporate messages to your readers?
Scott Prussing: Ninety-nine
percent entertainment. Every now and then, a life lesson creeps in.
Q: Tell us something about yourself.
Scott
Prussing: The following list should provide many insights into me
as a person.
1. I have never owned a cell phone
(or a lap top computer, for that matter).
2. I eat the same breakfast every
day (bran flakes with raisins, non-fat milk).
3. I have never taken anything to
the dry cleaners.
4. I’ve driven across the country
eight different times, taking four different routes.
5. I LOVE Cheez-its (and
cheesecake, too, though the two bear no relation).
6. I walk or ride my bike by the
ocean or bay almost every morning.
7. I have never driven through
the Drive-Thru lane at a fast food restaurant.
8. I have had only two cups of
coffee in my life – both to stay awake when driving. I had to add 4 sugars and
4 creamers to stomach the stuff.
9. I have never taken a writing
class. In college, I took only one semester of required freshman English, and I
actually avoided any classes where I would have had to write papers, like
history, sociology or political science.
10. My all-time favorite books
are Lord of the Rings and The Fountainhead, but I don’t really
like anything else that Tolkien or Ayn Rand wrote.
Readers can stalk Scott Prussing at:
Facebook:
Twitter: @BreathlessBook
Author
Bio
Scott Prussing was born in New Jersey, but
was smart enough to move to beautiful San Diego as soon as he received his
Master's degree in psychology from Yale University. In addition to the five
Blue Fire Saga books, Scott is the author of BLUE FIRE HEAT, an adults
only companion piece to the Blue Fire Saga, and BLUE FIRE BEGINNINGS, a
collection of short story “prequels” about the origins of some popular Blue
Fire characters. He also wrote the mystery/suspense novels Unturned Stones
and Tangled Webs, the fantasy/adventure novel Dreams of the Last Born,
and the teen romance Mine: A Love Story, whose plot is based on the hit
songs of Taylor Swift.
Besides writing, Scott enjoys riding his
bicycle near the beach, going to the movies, reading books of all sorts,
hiking, and golf. He remains one of the few people in the United States without
a cell phone.
Books in THE BLUE FIRE SAGA Series
BREATHLESS is the first book in The Blue Fire Saga, a modern fantasy
romance series in the mold of Twilight and Vampire Diaries, but filled with enough new ideas to excite even the most
devoted fans. College
freshman Leesa Nyland has been fascinated by vampires since she was three years
old. That’s when her mom started acting weird, refusing to go outside during
the day and insisting the sunlight hurt her skin because she had been bitten by
a one-fanged vampire.
DEATHLESS continues the story begun in BREATHLESS. After surviving the harrowing events chronicled in BREATHLESS, Leesa Nyland hopes she’s done dealing with all things
supernatural. All she wants to do now is enjoy college life—and to figure out
how to kiss her vampire hunter boyfriend without his magical fire burning her
to a crisp. She doesn’t think that’s too much to ask.
Book 3 of The Blue Fire Sage, HELPLESS is filled with the same passion, humor, suspense and
supernatural danger as BREATHLESS and DEATHLESS
Book 4 of The Blue Fire Saga, FEARLESS continues the story of college freshman Leesa Nyland and her
supernatural vampire hunter boyfriend Rave. Now if she can just stay alive long
enough to learn how to control some special powers she never knew she
possessed, and if the dead will just stay dead…
Book 5 of The Blue Fire
Saga, HEARTLESS continues the story of
Leesa and Rave, along with Dominic and Cali and other favorite Blue Fire Saga
characters. HEARTLESS also introduces a new kind of supernatural enemy — xenorians.
Excerpt:
Leesa hadn’t planned to unload on
Cali—it just seemed to happen. She held back only about Rave’s being a
volkaane, for it was not her place to reveal his secret. She felt better having
let it all out, but now that she had finished, she worried how Cali would
react. Cali probably thought she was crazy. Leesa shifted her gaze away from
Cali’s face and stared instead into the flickering red glass candle jar on the
table.
“Wow,” Cali said, putting down a
half-eaten slice of pizza and leaning back against the cushioned booth. “And
here I thought I was the strange one in this relationship. I can’t believe you
didn’t tell me sooner.”
Leesa took a bite of her pizza.
It was barely warm, but still tasted great—confession worked up an appetite. “I
was afraid you’d think I was crazy. ‘My mom was bitten by a one-fanged vampire’
or ‘by the way, I think I met a vampire at the frat party tonight’ isn’t the
best way to start off a friendship.”
Cali laughed. “Are you kidding? I
would have been so into that. It’s the coolest story I ever heard.” Her
expression turned serious. “Except for the part about your brother. What are
you going to do?”
Leesa was so relieved Cali was
taking her story seriously. “I don’t know. I need to talk to Stefan, but I
don’t know how to find him.”
“Kinda like Rave, huh? Vampires
probably don’t use cell phones, either.” Cali sipped her soda, then looked back
at Leesa. “So this Stefan guy is really a vampire, huh?”
Leesa nodded. “He all but
admitted it. And there’s other stuff that points to it, too.” She couldn’t tell
Cali about seeing his fangs without telling her about the fight with Rave she
had stopped, which she was most definitely not about to do.
“And he hasn’t tried to, you
know, bite your neck or anything?”
“Ha! No, he’s always been nice. A bit strange, for sure, but
nice.”
Cali grinned.
“Of course he’s a bit strange—he’s a freaking vampire!”
DEATHLESS
HELPLESS
FEARLESS
HEARTLESS
BLUE FIRE
HEAT
BLUE FIRE
BEGINNINGS
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Popped over from the WLC Blog Follow program on the World Literary Cafe! Great to connect! Great to see your postings!
ReplyDelete"anything with vampires sell" - hmm! LOL and zombies, it seems. Popped over from the WLC Blog Follow program on the World Literary Cafe - I prefer writing about dogs, though.
ReplyDeletePopped over from the WLC Blog Follow program on the World Literary Cafe! Great to connect!
ReplyDeletePopped over from the WLC Blog Follow program on the World Literary Cafe! Great to connect!
ReplyDeleteI have to love someone who has never had a cell phone. I found this great blog through the WLC Blog Follows on the World Literary Cafe! Great to connect!
ReplyDeleteHello back from WLC. Looks like that giveaway might work something like what Paul and I envisioned for an author coop. Will have to check it out. As for vampires, not interested unless it's funny or very different from the usual. Or if the characters really pulled me in...
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