Frightliner!

It's October, which means it's time for scary movies, bad costumes, and too many sweets. And some creepy books. Please give a big welcome to Karina Fabian, here to tell us about her books. I'm excited to hear of her newest release co-written with Colleen Drippe: Frightliner: And Other Tales of the Undead. Grab some popcorn and enjoy!

Hi, Karina. Welcome to the Far Edge of Normal. I must say I love your chainsaw. How can we find you?
Website: http://fabianspace.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karina.fabian
Twitter:  http://twitter.com/#!/KarinaFabian
Google +:  https://plus.google.com/103660024891826015212

What do you currently have in print and where can we find them?
I have several books out, so it'd be easiest if folks went to http://fabianspace.com and checked them out.  The ones that came out in the past 12 months are Infinite Space; Infinite God II; Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator; Perfect Ten; Frightliner; Mind Over Mind; and Mother Goose is Dead (story in the anthology).

What genre do you write?

 Mostly science fiction, fantasy and horror, though I have also written a lovely nonfiction devotional with my father, Why God Matters.

Do you have cats or other pets?
I grew up with cats, dogs, hamsters and fish.  As an adult, we've had a cat and dogs, plus some hermit crabs at Alex's insistence.  I love furry animals who like to cuddle and who adore you just because you feed them and coo at them.  Elbereth, our cat, likes to sit on the back of my chair or in my lap or on my back when I'm writing.  Layla, the dog, is content to lay near me, though whenever I get up, she thinks it's treat time.

What inspires your stories?
Easier to ask what doesn't inspire a story.  It depends on the story.  In the case of the two I'm touring this month, the inspiration came from friends. Frightliner was inspired by Colleen Drippe, my co-author.  She had read my story about a truck-driving vampire and suggested that no one wrote vampires as evil blood-thirsty beasts anymore.  So we decided to write one together.  Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator, came as a result of my publisher at Damnation Books asking me to do a novel based on the character I'd written in "Wokking Dead."  Then while in the Writers' Chat room we were discussing reality TV and great first lines of books, and the idea struck to do a novel about a reality TV show about zombie exterminators.

How do you like your romance, sweet or spicy? Or do you like romance?
I like romance in the concept of the story, but not as the story itself.  In Neeta Lyffe, there's a romance between Neeta and a good looking DJ, but it's peripheral and highlights her own struggles with the TV show.  In Neeta Lyffe II, she's involved in a different romance, and while it's a big issue, there's so much else going on with the zombies and the environmentalists and such.  I don't write especially spicy.  I want to be able to read my stories to my kids or have them read them without giving me the fisheye afterwards.

I hear you on keeping the romance sweet. If it would embarrass me to have my  mom read it, I don't write it. What is your current WIP?
I have two:  Neeta Lyffe II: I Left My Brains in San Francisco, is on hold until I can explore an oil refinery, so I'm working on The Old Man and the Void, which is based loosely on Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, but involves a black hole and alien artifacts.

Wow. That sounds like a great read. What hobbies do you have that you want to share?
My husband and I are taking haidong gumbdo, Korean sword martial arts.  It's a lot of fun and good exercise, especially when we are doing drills.  I have a green belt, and need to master the roll in order to progress.  I hate tumbling!

Did you always want to be an author? Who inspired you?
Absolutely.  I started my first novel in fourth grade.  However, my greatest inspiration has been my husband, Rob, who supports us well enough that I don't need to worry about money, helps me with ideas and technical matters, offers advice, and never fails to tell me how attractive I am when I'm writing.  He's the best husband a writer could have--and the best husband, period.

I'll argue with you on that point. I think my husband is the best. We'll have to compare notes sometime. What are your favorite movies, tv shows, or books to read?
Right now, we're into Eureka, Warehouse 13, and Alphas.  We still watch Dr. Who, but I'm just not a fan of the 11th doctor.  He seems to either play the buffoon or play people as buffoons.  In fact, we have a theory that he was somehow damaged in the last regenerations. The past two episodes have been better, so I hope he's changing. About the only show I really turn to again and again is Firefly.  So sad that was canceled in its prime!

Firefly deserved to run much longer. What characters are your favorites from your books? From any work of fiction?
My works?  I love them all, although Neeta, Vern (my dragon detective) and Deryl and Joshua (Mind Over trilogy) have my attention the most.  From any work?  Charles Wallace of A Wrinkle in Time.  I still dream of writing a book where he's grown up.

That was one of my favorite childhood books. I loved Meg and her whole family. If you could travel anywhere on Earth, where would you want to go? If you could travel anywhere, fictional or real, where would you go?
Rob and I want to see Greece at some point.  I've been lucky; my parents loved to go on long road trips, so I saw a lot of America and Canada as a child.  In college, I went on a tour of the Middle East--Egypt, Jordan and Israel.  When I graduated, I joined the Air Force to see the world, and did: I was stationed in Italy and Japan, and while there, toured a lot of Europe and visited Korea.  Rob and I have also been to Mexico and Cancun.  So my list is pretty short, and Greece is on the top.

As for where in the universe, I have my imagination for that, so I'm content.

What's your favorite color? Food? Reading spot?
I don't really have favorites.  Maybe I'm flighty that way, but I just appreciate them all according to my mood.

Anything else you'd like to add?
Yes.  I think your crocheted C'thulus are awesome!

Thanks!



*blush* Aw, thanks, Karina. Did I ever mention my little sister's name is Karina? Your stories are awesome. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Check out the excerpt from Frightliner below:

All Jay Carlson wants is to get his load delivered on-time, and the mysterious murder on a lone stretch of I-10 is just a slow-down.  Things get freaky as a stranger suggests the murderer is a truck driver—and Jay has seen the truck.  Thus starts a game of cat and mouse as the mysterious truck stalks him on his route.  No one else seems to see his phantom pursuer except for two unlikely allies:  a custodian claiming to be a vampire hunter, and an illegal alien who trusts his faith to defeat the monster.  When the truck-driving vampire traps them in an abandoned church and his only defenders are injured in the fight, Jay must swallow his own disbelief and destroy the vampire himself before he kills them all.

Karina Fabian writes fantasy and science fiction, with the occasional foray into the world of horror.  Her first novel, Magic, Mensa and Mayhem, the 2010 INDIE Award for best fantasy.   Her latest book, the comedic horror, Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator, was a top ten in the Preditor and Editor reader’s polls and winner of the Global E-Book Award for best horror.  Learn more about her works at http://fabianspace.com.

Colleen Drippe has been writing since age 6 and has had a lot of science fiction, a moderate amount of horror and fantasy, and assorted nonfiction scattered throughout the small press and online.  She also writes for children and has had three children's books published so far (The Little Blue House, Christmas at the Little Blue House, and Mystery at Miners’ Creek) and another one (Growing with the Little Blue House) due out any day.  She has had one sf book published (Godcountry) and another (Gelen!) coming out this year.  She is the former editor of Hereditas (of happy memory but dried up funding) and is currently working on another sf book along with various other projects.

Excerpt:
Of course that was why he had not come out to check on her, she thought with a surge of relief. He probably thought it was an abandoned car. But now--she stepped out onto the gravel, hearing for the first time how loud the crickets sang. She smelled the strong scent of the cooling air. Too early for snow. Too warm, still anyway, though she cursed herself for not thinking to put on jeans before making her big exit. She peered at the cab, but nothing moved.

“Hello!” she called, moving closer. She could not make out a logo on the truck. It was dark, dark paint. She had an impression that the shape was--not wrong exactly, but not usual. It was an older model, she decided. An old truck.
She had reached the door.

“Anyone there?” she called, hesitating to step up and look inside. What if something had happened to the driver? What if he were dead? What if she opened the door and a body spilled out onto the road?

But that was silly. He had just pulled up. Probably he was rummaging around in his berth for some tools.

But what if he was dead? What if she took hold of the door and--and what if he was right there, watching her?

She had almost decided to go back to her own car. But the thought of the semi parked behind her, silently cutting its chunk from the sky, was in some strange way even more frightening than opening the door. She reached up for the handle and pulled herself up level with the window.

The handle turned in her hand.

It was then she knew she had done the wrong thing. If only someone else had come--she prayed for someone else. A cop. Even a car full of good old boys. Anyone.

The crickets fairly screamed their shrill and mindless song, the scent of the Russian knapweed was overpowering. But it wasn’t strong enough to hide another smell, a dark earthy smell. A smell of death mellowed by long usage.    

The door opened.

Reba froze, clutching the handle, balancing there with the driver’s seat in front of her. She tried to speak, to call, but nothing would come out. She hung there, thinking of death, while the night passed and the stars moved and the moon looked in over her shoulder. Finally, she climbed into the truck.

“Daniel,” she whimpered. She was ready to forgive the new pickup, but it was too late. Something moved in the back and she turned in the driver’s seat and saw a pale face, caught in the moonlight, eyes gleaming. She had an impression of lank hair, grizzled beard. And then two hands reached up to take her shoulders and she saw the mouth open.

Video trailer link: http://youtu.be/pEi6y0IuOlI
Amazon link:  http://amzn.to/lJDL9b
Website:  http://fabianspace.com