Being a wolf girl, I'm really looking forward to reading Unleashed. What can you tell us about your upcoming release?
Debbie - Get ready to howl! Unleashed is intense and scary and also mournful and beautiful. We worked really hard to build an awesome werewolf mythology that is fully revealed over the course of the trilogy. Nancy and I also love werewolves and we had a lot of fun working on this book.
Nancy –Unleashed is about Katelyn McBride, who uncovers dark secrets in a tiny town in the Ozark hills, where tall tales and legends are mixed in with some dangerous things that are really happening. Once she arrives in Wolf Springs, Katelyn has no idea how drastically her life is going to change—and she can’t figure out if she can trust any of the new people in her life—Trick Sokolov, Justin Fenner, Cordelia Fenner, or even her own grandfather, Mordecai McBride. There is something in the woods…and it wants her.
I’m a wolf girl, too! In fact, I’m a member of the California Wolf Center, where two endangered wolf packs live and breed. I’ve adopted two of the wolves.
How do your wolves vary from those found in other YA paranormal books?
Debbie - There’s a lot of history with our wolves and also a strong connection to the behaviors of wild wolves.
Nancy – We explore the histories of our packs, each of which got “wolfed” in a different way. Since we’ve both been werewolf fans for so long, we are able to use some unusual takes on “werewolfdom” and weave them into our story—more will be revealed as the trilogy continues. People who’ve read books by us before know that we love the unexpected. And so…
Is there one character that stands out above the others that you enjoyed getting to know more about? If so, who and why?
Debbie - Mordecai. I enjoy writing strong paternal figures and Mordecai is no exception. He had a lot more humor than I was expecting that came out while we were writing and I really enjoyed that. I enjoy writing male characters and getting to do the older ones, who don’t have to have any love interest angst is always a pleasure.
Nancy –I relate to Katelyn the most, because like her, I was an aspiring ballet dancer. I dropped out of high school when I was 16 and moved to Germany for training. My father died and I came home to finish high school. There was a tiny studio in my town, and I figured my dance career would probably not happen. The clock is always ticking, ticking when you’re a dancer. The Black Swan movie was kind of extreme, but the pressure really is on 24/7, just like in the film. Werewolves are always on a ticking clock, too, waiting for the full moon. Time is not under anyone’s control, but it’s not as heartless a master for most of us as it is for dancers and werewolves.
Are you able to give us a one line teaser from Unleashed?
Debbie - “Fear began to creep into her mind as she strained even harder to penetrate the darkness around her.”
Nancy – “Her free hand was already moving up around his neck when she heard footsteps and a voice suddenly shouting, ‘Stranger!’”
If you had to describe Unleashed in 5 word or less, what would those words be?
Debbie - Who do you run with?
Nancy – mysterious, passionate, scary, tender, romantic!
Which character surprised you in terms of how they grew from plotting out the book, to finishing it?
Debbie - Beau; he wasn’t even in the initial plotting
Nancy – copy that on Beau. Whoa, Beau! We had a total mind synch on him, doing our squee thing when we realized he was going to have a bigger role than the walk-on part we’d planned for him. I sure hope he doesn’t die