A Spy to Die For by Kris DeLake (Interview/Giveaway)

Ah, a breath of fresh air. That is what our guest today feels like when I pick up one of her Assassins Guild series. Welcome back to the blog, Kris DeLake!

Kris: Thank you! And thank you for the kind words about my books!

Lexi: Finally book two! Does it seem as if it has taken forever and a day for book two of the Assassins Guild series to come out? It sure has for me!

Kris: It took a while, but it’s only been a little over a year. ☺

Lexi: Book one was a great new take on sci-fi assassins, of course you added in a great love story that kept me turning the pages to see what happened to Misha and Rikki. Now we get Jack and Skye, who sound like they may not be top level assassins. Did you have some fun writing these two characters and their quirks?

Kris: I had a lot of fun with Jack and Skye, starting when Jack tried to steal Assassins in Love from Rikki and Misha. Jack just took over the scene he was in. I had to cut part of it because he was talking about things that weren’t important for the first book. They belonged in the second. Then I had to find the right woman for him, so I wrote an entire short story about Skye’s background. You can find that in Asimov’s Science Fiction under my real name Kristine Kathryn Rusch. The story’s called “Skylight.” Eventually, it’ll be up as a stand-alone e-book.

Lexi: Can't wait for that e-book! 
When you plan out a series you want to keep the feeling of the books the same, that essence that readers fall in love with, yet come up with a new idea so readers don’t feel as if they are re-reading the previous book. Did you have Jack and Skye’s story in mind when you started Assassins In Love? 

Kris: I really hate novels of any genre that repeat what came before. Mystery series that are the same thing over and over again, romances where the characters just change names. They don’t do it for me. It’s character, character, character, as far as I’m concerned.

I had no idea I was even writing a book when I started this series. It began as a short story called “Drinking Games”  in an anthology called Love and Rockets edited by Kerrie Hughes and Martin H. Greenberg. When I finished that story, I knew it was the opening to a novel. So I wrote the novel, and sold it to Sourcebooks as Assassins in Love, along with another in the series.
Then Jack walked on stage and I knew the next book was about him. I just had to find his soul mate.
The third book is about Hazel whom we also met in Assassins, but I haven’t gotten to it yet. I need to write it a little differently. These stories do mix sf and romance, and they have a touch of darkness. Hazel’s story will be very different.

Lexi: You have most likely been asked this before, but I am so excited about this series I have to know! Do you have a number in mind for the Assassins Guild series? (please say a high number)

Kris: I don’t have a number. The story will be finished when it’s finished. I don’t even have a pub date for the third book. I need to write it first.
If you want to read other things about Misha or the Assassins Guild, there are short stories and novelettes available, even though they’re not romance. I do a lot of my planning in the short form. So “Defect,” which you can get as an e-book, is about Misha’s mother, and “Killer Advice” which is an e-book, audio book, and paper book, is a straightforward mystery starring Misha before he meets Rikki. Then of course, there’s “Drinking Games,”  which, if you’ve read Assassins you’ve already read, and “Skylight” which will be out in ebook form in about six months.
I’m sure there will be more in various genres, sf/romance, sf/mystery, sf/thriller, all in this world because it’s so very big. And fun!

Lexi: No set number gets trumped by " it will be finished when it’s finished." Can’t wait! Good luck with the release, we hope it does well and will be counting down the days to book three! Thanks Kris, now let's drink some wine.

Kris: Sounds like a plan. Thanks for inviting me!

A Spy to Die For
Assassins Guild #2
by Kris DeLake
Mass Market Paperback 384 pages
Published July 2nd 2013 by Sourcebooks Casablanca
ISBN 9781402262852

Jack Hunter is a double agent. Skye Jones is a pirate...or is that just a cover? One thing is for sure—neither of them are competent assasins. Thrown together on the Krell space station during an important Assassins Guild meeting, each is determined to get to the truth and prevent catastrophe. But when Jack and Skye are matched against two master killers, they find themselves caught in the crosshairs between their willingness to trust each other and the undeniable attraction coursing through them. Both knows that a long-term relationship is tough in their profession, but the chemistry they've got is too good to deny. Now all they have to do is stay alive.

Goodreads
Available for Purchase at Amazon, Kindle, Barnes & Noble, and The Book Depository

~*GIVEAWAY*~

Thanks to Sourcebooks (aren't they awesome?!) one lucky reader will win a copy of A Spy to Die For! (Us and Canada only) To enter leave a comment for Kris, any spies you love? Other than Jack and Misha of course. Then fill out the Rafflecopter!

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