R. A. Steffan - Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance with Spunk

USA Today bestselling author R. A. Steffan lives in a very boring (but pretty) part of flyover country in the Midwestern US. When she’s not busy writing stories about people loving each other in all sorts of different and interesting ways, she can be found taking care of her small menagerie of critters.  A rebel to the core, she is currently sticking it to the man by illegally harboring ducks within the city limits, where only chickens are allowed. This fearless disregard for societal norms extends to her writing, as well.  As our Author of the Day, Steffan tells us all about her book, The Last Vampire.

Please give us  a short introduction to what The Last Vampire is about.

When 26-year-old waitress Zorah Bright finds a dead body in her garden shed, she figures her day can’t get much worse. When that dead body wakes up and starts trying to break into her house, she finds out just how wrong she was.

Within days, Zorah is on the run from shadowy government figures. Her only ally is the vampire who broke out of her shed and bit her before leaving her unconscious for the police to find. The last of his kind, Ransley Thorpe is now the one thing standing between Zorah and and a supernatural war that has been going on beneath humanity’s collective nose for centuries.

With both sides convinced that Zorah’s existence is proof of a war crime, she’ll be lucky if she lives long enough to help Ransley unravel the mystery of his survival… or to find out what’s behind his apparent fascination with her.

What inspired you to write this book? Did you plan from the start to make this into a series?

The previous vampire series I wrote with Jaelynn Woolf—Circle of Blood— was a self-contained six-book story arc with no real avenues for expansion once the story was told. We both ended up kicking ourselves over that fact when it took off in popularity. To this day, we still get messages from readers bemoaning the fact that the series is over and begging for new books.

We swore not to make that mistake again, and I immediately began outlining a huge, sprawling, fictional world with interesting side characters and a complicated political situation running in the background. Fortunately, readers have received The Last Vampire very well so far. I hope that means that we’ll be able to tell new stories within this universe for a very long time.

Why urban fantasy/paranormal romance? What drew you to the genre?

You can blame Jeaniene Frost for this particular blend of paranormal romance and urban fantasy, which Jaelynn and I generally label “urban fantasy romance” when people ask. Frost’s wildly popular Night Huntress series and its spinoffs combine the best of both worlds—extended series with overarching external plots that follow the same characters for multiple books, along with steamy, slow-developing love stories. That combination is basically my catnip.

Readers say that your books have a different take on vampires, demonkin and fae. How is yours different from the other books in the genre?

That’s an interesting question, and the only answer I can give doesn’t actually answer it very well. Neither Jaelynn nor I read extensively in PNR/UF. We’ve read a few of the best-known ones (and as I mentioned above, I’m personally a huge Night Huntress fan), but we couldn’t rattle off a list of cliches in the genre for you.

I think that “freshness” contributed to a different take on the paranormal elements of our stories. Our research began with historical views on Fae, demons, and vampires, which we then pushed through a distorted lens of modern societal conflict and social mores. We asked a lot of “what if?” questions. What if the Fae developed a magical weapon to commit genocide against their vampire enemies, but one vampire somehow escaped destruction? What if Fae changelings were being sent to Earth as a way to infiltrate the highest levels of human society? And so forth.

Tell us more about Zorah. What makes her tick?

Zorah is just trying to live day-to-day and make a positive difference in the world, despite being dealt a rough hand while growing up. Her mother was assassinated during a campaign for the US Senate when Zorah was six years old. Her father never recovered, and was emotionally distant—borderline abusive—throughout Zorah’s childhood. She also has a host of inexplicable chronic health problems that have baffled doctors (with good reason).

Despite the constant feeling that something is fundamentally wrong with her, she does her best—working to pay the mortgage even when she’s sick and in pain, volunteering with a mental health organization as a way to honor her mother.

When her world begins to crumble around her without warning, she’ll have to draw on reserves of inner strength she didn’t know she had. But what seems like a hopeless situation may end up giving Zorah answers to questions about her life that she never even knew to ask.

Besides writing, what other secret skills do you have?

I was a pretty decent horse-trainer back in the day. I also make a mean gluten-free, chocolate chip banana pancake.

How does book two tie in with this one?

It’s a direct continuation. The Last Vampire books are not intended as standalone reads—the series has an overarching plot.

Do any of your characters ever take off on their own tangent and refuse to do what you had planned for them?

My crazy production schedule (and the fact that I’m currently juggling three unrelated series) means that I’m a pretty strict drill sergeant when it comes to my characters. If they have something to say, the time for them to speak up is during the outlining process, not the writing process.

If they ever unionize on me, I’m in trouble.

What are your 3 favorite books —and why?

Ahaha. Talk about a can of worms…

Okay. This answer might change if you ask me again in a year. For now, though, I’ll say that the first is the Earth’s Children series by Jean M. Auel. (Yeah, I know you said books, not series. Shhh…) That was the first series I read that perfectly combined external plot and romance plot in a way that clicked for me. It’s also some of the most amazing world-building you will find anywhere—full stop, end of sentence.

The second is The Left-Handed Hummingbird by Kate Orman. Good luck finding a copy for any kind of reasonable money—it’s a special kind of obscure, and also a collector’s item for sci-fi lovers. The book is a Doctor Who novel from the 1990s (yes, I’m THAT kind of geek), and in addition to some stunning historical research that brings the Aztec Empire to vibrant, bloody life, the story played my emotions like a damned harp.

The third is a recent one—Broken Compass by Jo Raven. I’m a sucker for poly romance (as my back catalogue will attest), and this is the best example I’ve ever read, bar none. Amusingly, I don’t generally enjoy contemporary romance… and it’s contemporary romance. I also don’t usually enjoy young protagonists… and the protagonists are young at the beginning of the book.

All of which goes to show that good storytelling transcends genre.

What has most surprised you about the response you've received from readers of this series?

I’ve been really touched by the number of people who’ve connected with Zorah’s struggles with chronic illness. I was a bit concerned that her health problems at the start of the series would turn people off, but that hasn’t been the case at all.

Do you consider yourself a disciplined writer? Do you have a schedule that you stick to, or is it more in the moment?

Again because of my ridiculous production schedule, I have no choice but to be a disciplined writer. At least, not if I want the electric bill to get paid. I released fifteen books and boxsets in 2018 (several of which were co-written). The plan is for fourteen releases in 2019.

When working on a new book, what’s the first thing you do?

Outline. Outline, outline, outline.

What are you working on right now?

I just formatted and uploaded The Dragon Mistress: Book Two yesterday, ready for its release on February 8th. The current writing project is The Last Vampire: Book Three, and I’m also finalizing the outline and some initial scenes for Anthelion: Love and War, Book Four, which is the next project. (Pro-tip: Writers, don’t ever let yourself get sucked into writing more than two series at once. Just. Say. No.)

Where can our readers get your books?

Some of my series are Kindle Unlimited Amazon exclusives, and some are available on all e-book retailers. All but a handful of them are also available as audiobooks on Audible and iTunes.

The easiest way to find out what books are on what retailers is to go to my website and follow the links to your preferred stores.