Aussie Blog Tour: Andrea Cremer - Guest Post [Wolves vs. Vampires! What makes wolves better?]

Hello guys! Today I have Andrea Cremer, author of the Nightshade trilogy in the blog to discuss about Wolves vs. Vampires and why Andrea decided to write about wolves (they're not werewolves by the way!) instead of vampires (which seems to be in high demand these days!). Have I mentioned how much I LOVE THE NIGHTSHADE TRILOGY? If you guys haven't read it, I hope by the time you finish reading this guest post, you will dash to the closest bookshop to get the whole trilogy, or enter the giveaways in some of the Aussie blogs participating in the blog tour! I would also like to thank Laura from Hachette Australia for putting this blog tour together!

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True confession: if the question were werewolves vs. vampires – I’d say vampires. From Bram Stoker to True Blood, I’ve long been a vampire fan. I think it might have to do with the fact that they embody my two great loves: history and fantasy. The epic scope of a vampire’s life (or eternity if Buffy doesn’t get them) provides endless fascination. However, the inspiration for the Nightshade series was its protagonist and narrator, Calla Tor. Calla appeared in my mind one autumn day while I was out walking my dogs. I knew that she was a seventeen-year-old girl, that she was strong, independent and that she was in trouble. I also knew she was a wolf.That fact presented a challenge to me because though I’m a lifelong fan of fantasy and monsters, I hadn’t been particularly fond of werewolves. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to write a book about a girl who was also a wolf without it being a ‘werewolf book’. Yet I was determined to solve this problem and I did it by focusing on what I did love: wolves. I grew up in a tiny town in northern Wisconsin (any further north and you’re in Canada!). Rather than being indoors playing with dolls, I was out in the woods most days, building forts and creating imaginary worlds. The wilderness and its inhabitants (wild animals) were beautiful and magical in my eyes. Wolves have always been among the forest creatures I most admire. I love how intelligent and social wolf packs are. Their interactions and hierachies remind me of human societal structures and challenges. I realized I could write the book I wanted to, but it wouldn’t be like other werewolf books. In fact, in my mind it wasn’t a werewolf book at all. Calla and her fellow wolves are Guardians – fully wolf and fully human. When they shift forms they don’t go through a painful and ridiculously long (they’re warriors for goodness sake! They need to be ready to fight, now!) their clothes don’t get ripped to shreds. Though they have magically enhanced strength and healing, Guardians become true wolves when they change forms. I didn’t want that part of the story to be completely drawn from fantasy – as a world builder, I needed a plausible explanation, so I borrow from physics. String theory posits that the universe is composed of an infinite number of strings, each of which represents a parallel dimension. In Nightshade’s world a Guardian occupies one form, human or wolf, in this dimension while their other body (and its belongs if there were any at the time of the shift) waits in stasis in an alternate dimension that functions a little like a storage closet. I still love vampires and I always will. I’m even warming up to werewolves a bit. They key for me in writing any story is find the way to tell it that rings true to my heart and soul.

     

Add the book:

Goodreads 

 

Where to buy? 

Amazon & Book Depository

Find Andrea Cremer at:

Website / Blog / Twitter / Facebook

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YES YES YES! I love Andrea's idea of wolves instead of werewolves! I love how Andrea made her characters shift to wolves fully or shift to human fully in the book! It's so interesting to find that Andrea adores Vampires instead of wolves but well, if I had to choose between Wolves and Vampires after reading the Nightshade trilogy, I won't mind choosing wolves! ;) Thank you so much for the guest post, Andrea and thank you Laura for putting this blog tour together!

Interested to read the Nightshade trilogy? I'd suggest you dash to the nearest bookshop immediately or if you feel that luck is on your side, go enter these giveaways of the WHOLE NIGHTSHADE TRILOGY hosted by the AMAZING Aussie blogs: Eleusinian Mysteries, Tales of the Inner Book Fanatic, Novels On The Run! 

And that's not the end of the Nightshade trilogy! Rift, the first book in the Nightshade prequel series is coming out this year in August! Make sure to read all the books in the trilogy before Rift comes out!