Look Who’s Going to RT: Kate Douglas

Can you introduce yourself to my readers a little?
Hi all! I’m Kate Douglas, author of both regular paranormal romance and erotic paranormal romance. My Wolf Tales series kicked off the Aphrodisia imprint at Kensington Publishing in January 2006, and since then I’ve had either a new Wolf Tales or Chanku novella in a Sexy Beast anthology every three months. The 18th book–Sexy Beast VIII, just released this month. I also have a new mass market paranormal series from Kensington’s Zebra imprint called The DemonSlayers. The first book in that series, DemonFire, released February 23. The next one, HellFire, comes out in September. As far as me, personally, I’m a 60 year old mother of two, grandmother of five, married to a very patient man (can you imagine living with an author? Scary!) who’s been putting up with me for 38 years now. We live in a little mountain community in northern California, and I can honestly say I’m having the time of my life writing both of my series.

Can you introduce us to the world that you have created?
The world of the Chanku is contemporary, but the shapeshifters are an ancient race, born on the Tibetan steppes, who, over the years, lost the ability to shift. It wasn’t until Anton Cheval, a man who is both wizard and shapeshifter, rediscovered the necessary nutrients that enabled the brain of seemingly normal humans to finally develop and allow them the ability to become wolves.

They are creatures ruled by a powerful libido, but even stronger than their need for sex is the power of the pack and their connection to the others of their kind. Hunted by a society that doesn’t understand them, they live among humans and yet maintain their own secretive society. Over the course of the series, their numbers have expanded as more Chanku are discovered and brought into the pack, and those already there have found their life mates and begun having children.

There are packs now living in Montana, Maine, Colorado and San Francisco, California, where they run a detective agency called Pack Dynamics. The series is tightly connected and should be read in order, alternating the Sexy Beast/Chanku novellas with the Wolf Tales novels.

My other world, the world of the DemonSlayers, is entirely different. In this series, demonkind is invading Earth, creating a tipping point that could forever throw all worlds of all dimensions over to the dark side. Demons from Abyss, are slipping through the vortexes in Mount Shasta, California, and Sedona, Arizona and taking on avatars so that they can survive in Earth’s dimension. Dax, a demon who was kicked out of the hell of Abyss, has been hired by the good guys of Eden to hunt down the demons and stop the demon threat. He’s been given a human body and is aided by Eddy Marks, a pragmatic newspaper reporter who doesn’t believe in demons at all…at least, until she saves Dax’s life, Bumper the dog, Willow, a tiny sprite who helps Dax utilize energy in this dimension, Eddy’s father, Ed Marks, and Alton, a Lemurian warrior from the not-so-mythical world of Lemuria. I’m currently writing the third book in the series–HellFire comes out next September, and the one I’m working on now, StarFire, will release in April 2011.

Will this be your first RT or are you a veteran? Any advice for those who are going for the first time?
I’ve been to quite a few RT conventions, though not for the past three years, as my schedule with two series and a lot of books has been nuts. For those of you going for the first time, take good, comfortable clothes and shoes for walking–those hotels are big and you will walk MILES w/o ever going outside. Plan to spend time in the bar even if you don’t drink, because that’s where a lot of authors hang out, and don’t hesitate to introduce yourself to authors you see wandering about. We’re there to meet you! I always make my own name tag with my name written REAL big so people can find me–LOL. I spend so much of my time in my office writing that RT is a great chance to get out and actually meet the people I get email from all the time.

One thing I always do is pack some of those flat rate boxes with postage (real stamps, not metered postage) so you can ship home some of the tons of books you get. EVERYONE is giving away books and cool swag. It’s really hard to get it home–much easier to just mail it from the hotel.

The main thing about RT is to go and have fun. It’s a wonderful chance to meet your favorite authors, meet your online buddies and let your hair down. I’m beginning to get excited about it–have been so busy that I’ve had to push it to the back of my mind, but now we’re getting close!

Are you speaking on any panels during RT? Are there any you are looking forward to?
I’m doing a workshop with Kimberly Kaye Terry on Multicultural Romances on Wednesday at 11:15, a party for Booksellers on Thursday at 2:45, I’ll be at the Awards Ceremony from 4-6 (I was nominated for a readers choice award), and I’m definitely going to be at the Kensington Mixer on Friday morning at 8:15. Be sure and make it to that, as we’ll be signing and giving away books! Saturday is a big day–I’m a co-sponsor of the street party from 9-10:15 before the big Book Fair, and we’re giving away bags of books and stuff at that, which should be fun. And of course, there’s the book fair where about a gazillion authors will be signing books…and of course, like the other attendees, I’ll be filling my calendar up with things I plan to do.

One event I’m really looking forward to is a gathering with Camille Anthony, D. Renee Bagby and Stephanie “Flash” Burke, among others. They’re going to be giving away all kinds of loot! For writers, there’s a panel with authors Sahara Kelly and Scott Carpenter–I don’t even know what it’s about, but I do know they are both so funny that I will be there, if only to see what outrageous things they discuss. Remember, the days are so full of things to do that it’s a good idea to get a calendar started before you go so that you don’t forget to go to stuff. The schedule is online at the RT convention site.

If someone were wanting to meet up with you at RT, who should they look for?
I will definitely be at the places I mentioned above, but if someone really wants to get hold of me, I will be registered at the hotel under my name: Kate Douglas, and they can call and leave a message for me. I’ll do my best to try and get together with everyone I can. Or email me–I’ll have my computer along. I’m getting to Ohio late on Tuesday the 27th and leaving REAL early Sunday morning, May 2, but in between it’s all RT all the time. I hope I get to meet a lot of people while I’m there. That’s the whole reason I’m going!

Thanks so much–and one more thing, for those who can’t make it to RT. I usually try and bring home a ton of goodies from the goody room to use as prizes through my newsletter. Every year I go, I give away two big bags of RT swag to winners, so if you want a chance at all the stuff, sign up for my newsletter. There’s a link on the front of my website at www.katedouglas.com.