Halloween Booktacular Day 3!

Welcome back to day 3 of Halloween Booktacular. OUaT has teamed up with Good Choice Reading, Read My Mind, An Avid Reader's Musings, Skyla11377, Books With Bite and Dark Readers. The Halloween Booktacular will run from October 24th until October 31st. Each blog participating will have different post and giveaways going on, so you want to make sure you visit each one of us daily during the celebration.

On day 3 of the Halloween Booktacular, we bring you a special guest post from New York Times Bestselling Author Jennifer Ashley. Jennifer Ashley is the author of Shifters Unbound Series and other series as well. Today thanks to Berkley (Penguin) we have copies of book 1 & 2 in the series for one lucky winner to grab. Pride Mates (book 1) and Primal Bonds (book 2). 

Jennifer Ashley on Shifters vs. Vampires

The Shifters vs. Vampires debate has heated up in the last few years: in the Twilight series, in Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse series, and others. I fell on the Shifters side a while back, first because I like them, and second, because my publisher at the time refused to even look at another vampire series (I had one I wanted to write, they said “no more vampires” …but maybe I will write it at a later date).

So, I thought, ho-kay, there are lots of Shifter books out there already. How am I going to make mine different?

I was inspired, for some bizarre reason, by seeing a group of (very good-looking) guys doing some construction work on the side of the road. I started to spin a story about them—maybe they’re related (father and sons and nephews), and they have a family business.

Then I thought—not a family business—a family of shapeshifters. Big cat Shifters, and their family is the leader of their community. I ran with that idea and two things were born: The Morrissey family—brothers Liam and Sean, their father Dylan, and their nephew from a deceased brother, Connor.

The second thing that came from my brainstorming was my world of Shifters. Shifters aren’t made when they’re bitten or whatever. Shifters are born that way (they’re born in their animal form and then learn to shift at about age three). They were bred centuries ago by the Fae, who created half-animal, half-human creatures to be their hunters and fighters. My Shifters, being both smart and ornery, decided to rebel and break free of the Fae.

Shifters come in three species: Felines (wildcats); Lupines (werewolves); and Ursines (bear Shifters). In the wild, these species do not get along at all, and will kill each other on sight.

However . . . about twenty years ago, Shifters found themselves dying out. Their females produced fewer cubs, and many cubs and females died in childbirth. The stress of the industrialized world was taking its toll on the wild Shifters. About the same time, the Shifters were “outed” by a half-Fae, and humans reacted negatively.

In fear of Shifter strength, humans rounded up Shifters, forced them to wear Collars (half-tech, half-magic) that control their “violence,” and make them live in Shiftertowns. The Morrissey family leads their Shiftertown in Austin, Texas.

In the first book of this series (Pride Mates), I introduce the Morrisseys--Liam is the hero, who falls for a sassy human lawyer, Kim Fraser. Liam’s brother Sean is the Guardian of the Shifters (his book is Book 2, Primal Bonds).

What is a Guardian? Not a soldier or a guard. Sean carries a sword that sends a dead Shifter to the afterlife (it also turns the body to dust). It’s a lonely job, and Guardians don’t often take mates. Shifters are quite religious, honoring the Father God and Mother Goddess (sun and moon), and follow many pagan Celtic traditions.

The first two books are out, and a novella, Bodyguard, is coming November 15. All these stories are centered around the Austin Shiftertown.

In Wild Cat, Book 3 (coming in January 2012), I move to another Shifter family in Las Vegas: Eric Warden (Shiftertown leader), his sister Cassidy (who has recently lost her mate), and Eric’s son Jace. Police detective Diego Escobar comes up against this family when he arrests Cassidy in all her naked glory after she’s caught trespassing in a construction site. Their first encounter is electric and heats up from there.

This story introduces many new Shifter characters, including Shane and Brody, the Bears next door and their mother, Nell (“Mama--now she can be one mean grizzly.”)

The series will move back and forth between the two Shiftertowns, with characters crossing over in each book and novella.

Shifters Unbound has become a bestselling series, to my surprise, hitting the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. It’s generated many followers, and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

Thanks so much for letting me participate!

Best,

Jennifer Ashley http://www.jennifersromances.com

Wow to think this series spun out of seeing construction workers. That's pretty awesome. All the hype of Vampires and Shifters, it great to see when a author an bring something new and fresh to the board. Thank you to Jennifer for taking time out to write up this post for us today.