Kimberly Pauley

Book Launch Party: Day 2: Marlene Perez

All About Marlene
My guest today is the wonderfully friendly and probably sleep-deprived (she recently had twins!!!) Marlene Perez. Marlene has two awesome books debuting this year: Dead is the New Black (which you can win a copy of…keep reading!) in September and Love in the Corner Pocket (out this summer!). Marlene has also written as Lana Perez (middle grade books…super fun ones, too). She watches waaaayyy too much TV (or so she says) and lives in sunny Southern California. She’s also got a psychotic cat (like me)…I wonder, what percentage of authors do? It seems like a lot. Who needs a well-adjusted dog?

You can learn more about Marlene at her official website or her LiveJournal blog.

All About Dead is the New Black
Dead is the New Black sounds seriously intriguing. It’s told from the point of view of Daisy Giordano, one of a family of psychics who lives in Nightshade, California. Teenage girls are being mysteriously attacked all over town, including at Nightshade High School, where Daisy Giordano is a junior. When Daisy discovers that a vampire may be the culprit, she can’t help but suspect head cheerlead Samantha Devereaux, who returned from summer break with a new “look.” Samantha looks a little…well, dead, and all the popular kids at school are copying her style. Is looking dead just another fashion trend for pretty popular Samantha, or is there something more sinister going on? To find out, Daisy joins the cheerleading squad….

The Q&A

Here’s my question for Marlene…

You have soundtracks for each of your books on your website…so, if you had to do a soundtrack for your life, what would be on it (and I also love Etta James, by the way!)?

And her answer…

Oh, wow, this is a great question, but my answers would probably change on a daily basis. I have to admit that some of my favorite songs ended up in the DEAD IS books. Here’s what the soundtrack of my life would look like today (and I made myself limit it to a lucky thirteen songs.)

Taking Care of Business by Bachman Turner Overdrive (because anyone who went to high school with me knows that this is the song everyone did “The Alligator”—it’s a dance– to back in high school. Ask me to demonstrate it sometime.)

Piece of My Heart by Janis Joplin (best.singer.ever.)

Saturday Night by the Bay City Rollers (my FAV group in junior high, what can I say? I loved all that tartan and I’m a sucker for accents.)

We Close Our Eyes by Oingo Boingo (best song ever! Reminds me how short our time is.)

At Last by Etta James (Gorgeous song and it reminds me of my husband. But then again, so does any K.C. and the Sunshine Band song, so there you go.)

Goody Two Shoes by Adam & The Ants (Floppy pirate shirts. And war paint. And a rockin’ good beat.)

Fell in Love with a Boy by Joss Stone (I love her voice)

Love Removal Machine by The Cult (who doesn’t want to dance when this song comes on your I-Pod?)

If It Be Your Will by Leonard Cohen (Leonard Cohen is THE MAN, although the version by Antony is pretty awesome too.)

Sometime Around Midnight by The Airborne Toxic Avengers (I love this song because of the way the lyrics tell such a complete and relatable story.)

Every Day I Write the Book by Elvis Costello (kind of a reminder really.)

Bowie by Flight of the Conchords (this kills two birds with one stone because I love David Bowie and nothing makes me laugh more than the Flight of the Conchords, except maybe The Office.)

Any song from the Once More, with Feeling episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (I’m a huge Buffy fan and probably scared the beejesus out of Joss Whedon on the exhibit floor of Comic-Con one year. I think Buffy informed the work of a lot of the paranormal fiction we’re seeing right now, especially in the vampire/werewolf category.)

And Marlene’s question for me…

How did you decide which vampire conventions to throw out and which to keep? For instance, in SUCKS TO BE YOU, Mina’s father loves garlic.

Or

What’s your favorite beverage? And no fair saying a pint of O negative.

And my answer…

Let’s see, I think I’ll just tackle both. :-) Last one first, since its easy…most of the time I just like a drink of really cold water (no ice). But I do *love* a nice cold glass of real lemonade (ooooh, or strawberry lemonade. yum!). Though I do partake in a nice glass of red wine periodically…(less so now with the baby…geez, I’m a cheap date now!).

As for the vampire conventions…well, I did a lot of research. Some of the ones that it may seem like I “threw out” in the book are actually “true” – in the sense that they follow the original legends and myths more so than they follow the common vampire mythos of today. Like the eye color being blue or green – that’s straight out of real vampire mythology. Some myths didn’t have a real basis in the legends, however, and for those I just went with what seemed funny to me or would work best for the “vampire vision” I had in my head. The garlic in particular…I couldn’t find anything in the ancient myths that really indicated that garlic would repel vampires, so I decided to go the opposite route to most vampire tales.

And BTW, Marlene, I *love* your song choices!

The Giveaway

Now then, the part I’m sure you’ve been waiting for…how to win that hot, hot, hot copy of Dead is the New Black…all you gotta do is go visit Marlene’s website and tell me which of the songs she posted in her soundtrack lists is your fav and why. Pretty easy, huh? Just email your answer to me at kim @ kimberlypauley.com with the subject line “When was black the new black, anyway?” by September 2nd, 2008.

And don’t forget to check out all the book launch par-tay details (including how to win an awesome HUGE prize pack of stuff)!