Guest Author: Gena Showalter - The Darkest Whisper

RANDOM WINNER: The lucky winner of the signed copy of The Darkest Night is Christine!

(I think there was only one Christine in the comments, but just to be safe, it's comment #98). Christine, please email me your mailing address at nalinisinghwrites AT gmail DOT com and I'll pass it on to Gena.

Congratulations!

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Today's guest is the wonderful Gena Showalter!! I've known Gena since the publication of her first book and can safely say she's full of all kinds of awesome :-)

Today, Gena's going to be talking about her latest release, The Darkest Whisper, and giving away a signed copy of The Darkest Night, the first book in her Lords of the Underworld series.

Leave a comment by noon tomorrow (New Zealand time) to be in to win.

And now, please welcome Gena to the blog everyone!!
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How do characters come to be?

With me, they introduce themselves in different ways. In The Darkest Whisper, Gwendolyn the Timid, a half-harpy, half-angel, first appeared to me in a dream. I saw her locked inside a glass cage. Dirty, hungry, scared. I saw that cage open, watched her disappear in a blink and return bloody. Only, it wasn’t her blood.When I woke up, I had so many questions. Mainly: whose blood was it? What had she done? How had she done it? Why was she locked away?

Slowly her story began to unravel in my mind. And I fell so in love with this woman, I had to write her story. But who would I pair her with? In the end, I knew only a Lord of the Underworld would do. She was Harpy. She needed someone strong. So, I began to introduce her to those deliciously savage warriors, testing reactions. First up? Paris. I knew immediately he wasn’t the one for her. He was too busy mourning his Sienna. Aeron – no again. I already had someone in mind for him. Strider – no, no, no. Gwen is a Harpy who hates to lose, and Strider is an immortal who always has to win. Or suffer. Eventually, they would have resented each other and that would have blown the happily-ever-after.

More introductions. More nos. No one fit. Until Sabin, keeper of the demon of Doubt, entered. Instant sparks. And, to be honest, that shocked the hell out of me. Sabin could destroy the strongest self-esteem in a snap. Past lovers had even killed themselves, they were so torn up inside. How was Gwen, who thinks of herself as self-esteem lite, supposed to survive a relationship with him?

I didn’t know the answer, but I decided to sit down and write their story anyway. They were that attracted to each other. They had to guide me every step of the way, but, oh, what a journey. I LOVED writing this book and have never had so much fun with characters. Sabin, who had always placed victory on the battlefield over relationships, was finally brought to his knees. And Gwen, my sweet Gwen, proved herself strong enough to do it -- and make him like it. (Yes, I’m smiling as I type that. And shivering.)

If you haven’t checked out the Lords of the Underworld, I hope you’ll give them a shot. And speaking of shots, my wonderful publisher is hosting a contest with a grand prize of $10,000 in honor of my other August 25th release, Intertwined. Just follow the link to find out how to enter! http://harlequin.promo.eprize.com/intertwinedsweepstakes/