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Sherrilyn Kenyon (also writing as Kinley MacGregor) is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Dark-Hunter series. She’s also written a few other series, including the Bureau of American Defense (or BAD for short) and the League series. In all, she’s got over 20 million books in print in over 30 countries. She’s received quite a few awards, including the Holt Medallion, Sapphire Award, Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award, The Golden Quill, and several Prism, Laurel Wreath, PEARL, and Golden Rose Reader Choice Awards.
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This episode originally aired on 12/03/2009 with the following authors:
Note: The following interview has been transcribed from The Author Hour radio show. Please excuse any typos, spelling and gramatical errors.
Interview with Sherrilyn Kenyon | | |
Bonus Question(s) that Didn't Air on the Live Radio Show
Note that you can also listen to this while you read it.
Matthew Peterson:
Now let me ask you a bonus question here. Now, tell me about the annual Dark Hunter fan convention in New Orleans. I hear it’s really popular. It’s called the K-Con?
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
Mm hmm.
Matthew Peterson:
What is that convention about really?
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
Well, every year I make a . . . New Orleans I always consider home. No matter wherever else I live in the world, New Orleans will always be my hometown. And I used to go back at least once a year just to . . . I re-charge my batteries down there. And the fans all knew that I went down there. They’re like, “We’d love to come have you show us around. Man, let us know.”
First time we did it, we did it kind of on a lark going, “Sure, I’ll be down there this weekend.” I had no idea [laughs] that people were really serious, they’d actually pay money to come down there and see me. So it grew out of that. It’s just once a year. We keep it small, unfortunately, because I’m only one person; we keep it down around 150 people, and it usually sells out as soon as we open it.
Matthew Peterson:
Yeah. You’d get mauled if you had too many more people.
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
Well, and they wouldn’t get any one-on-one. The whole beauty of K-Con is you get to spend time with me and like I said, I can only go around so many tables during lunch. And you know, the rooms will only hold so many people and then it’s kind of, “Who is? Is that her? Back up there on the wall?”
Matthew Peterson:
Yeah, yeah. So is there like a waiting line to get into it?
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
Yes, we always have one. We had several... I think one year--this year or last year--it was just over 1,000 people were on the waiting list.
Matthew Peterson:
Oh, wow!
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
Yeah.
Matthew Peterson:
I went to the Discworld Convention.
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
Oh yeah!
Matthew Peterson:
The first North American Discworld Convention with Terry Pratchet.
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
That’s really cool.
Matthew Peterson:
That’s where I met him, just a few months ago.
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
Oh, I love his work. He’s wonderful.
Matthew Peterson:
Yeah. And he told me that was the first North American one, but you know they’ve had ones in Australia and other countries. So what he does is... so that he doesn’t get mauled. He’s a very people person, but sometimes it’s a little bit claustrophobic.
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
[laughs] Yeah.
Matthew Peterson:
So he will have a badge with a different person’s name on it.
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
[laughs]
Matthew Peterson:
And everybody knows what he looks like. I mean, he’s very unique, you know; we know what he looks like.
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
Oh, yeah.
Matthew Peterson:
But everybody knows that when he’s wearing this badge--I can’t remember what the name is--it means, “I need some me time now.” [laughs]
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
Ahh. [laughs]
Matthew Peterson:
So I thought that was very interesting. Let me ask you really quick too. You mentioned that your book was one of the very first ebooks published. What made you decide to go that route and kind of jump on that bandwagon? That was a new technology, very unknown. What made you decide to do that?
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
Well, there was no bandwagon to jump on. [laughs]
Matthew Peterson:
[laughs] What made you decide to pioneer that new technology?
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
Back then, if you were an ebook author, they were like . . . it was below even vanity publishing. I mean, they really . . . people did not understand it at all. Because I’ve always been very much a tech person. My husband jokes I’m a cyborg and as soon as I can wire the internet into my brain I’ll be happy.
Matthew Peterson:
Yeah.
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
It spoke to me because I saw the wave of the future. I’m like, “This is what books’ll evolve into.” And I really wanted to be part of it, and at that time traditional publishing was all but lost to me. So I’m like, “Well, this is a viable way.” To me it’s more important that people are reading the books and enjoying them. I mean that’s why I do what I do.
Matthew Peterson:
Yeah.
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
So it was just a way of reaching a whole new audience. And you know I’m very glad and proud to see the way--not that I had anything to do with it other than the one book--to have seen the way ebooks have grown over the last 15 years. It’s just incredible.
Matthew Peterson:
Yeah, who would have known? That’s the way of the future now, I mean, ebooks everywhere. Yeah, my publisher kind of died. The economy killed them, but I can always say, “Well, the ebook and the audio book is still out. It’s still online.” [laughs]
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
Yeah, yeah, exactly. [laughs]
Matthew Peterson:
Yeah.
Extra Material That was Cut from the Show Because of Time Constraints
Note that you can also listen to this while you read it (you'll need to fast forward past the bonus questions).
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
And you have with different clans, you have a certain dynamic, and in the case of Amy, her mother is very much a bear, all the way around, and you know: we keep to ourselves, you don’t mix with all these others, even though they have others, their sanctuary. Sanctuary’s kind of a place where... it was founded after Amy’s older two brothers were killed as a refuge for all the different countries where they could come in peace or leave in pieces. And her mother’s been running it. So she will tolerate the other branches, but she definitely doesn’t want her daughter mixing with them.
And then in the case of Fang, his brothers, both of them, they’re distinct . . . I know it’s so complicated . . . it’s the reason we have a huge compendium for it. There’s two branches of the were’s. There are those that are human based in their life forms and there are those that are animals who are capable of taking human forms. In the case of Amy, her mother is a bear that can take human form. In the case of the Wolves, Fang is a mix; his mother was a human and his father was a wolf, and so his brothers ruled Fapatria for the animals and for the humans. So very precarious situation.
* * * * * * * * * *
Matthew Peterson:
Yeah, what’s that book about?
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
He’s a Hellhound. [laughs]
Matthew Peterson:
[laughs]
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
Hell, as in the goddess Hell, from Norse mythology. I’ve actually been wanting to do something with her for a while. I do the Children of Fen Reer. And they were guardians to Hell and they were in planned and now they have broken free. But Morgan Lythay, who is the big villain of the series. When Arthur was king, there were 13 sacred items that he used to rule with, and when he died what they did was they spread them out. There’s a Merlin actually in charge of each of the different items. And the heroine in the particular book is the guardian to the shield of Dadga. And Kadzill, who is the Hellhound, has to . . . he’s supposed to get it away, because Morgan has his sister and if he doesn’t get this shield, she will kill her.
Matthew Peterson:
Oh, okay. So that book’s coming out in March.
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
Mm hmm.
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