Hello everyone and welcome to my stop on the Escapist Book Tours virtual book tour for S.L. Choi’s Urban Fantasy novel, Bad Girls Drink Blood! Today, I am excited to kickoff the tour by sharing an interview with the author!
You can find our Q&A below, along with all of the info about the book, the author, links to purchase a copy of Bad Girls Drink Blood for yourself, as well as an an opportunity to win a signed copy with swag! Also, be sure to take a look at the schedule at the bottom of the post and follow along to see the stops from our other awesome hosts, or check our official tour hub which we’ll update with links throughout the week as each we make each tour stop!
Book Information:
Bad Girls Drink Blood by S.L. Choi
Series: Blood Fae Druid
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Intended Age Group: Adult
Pages: 436
Published: May 17, 2022
Publisher: City Owl Press
Blurb
Part sun fae, part blood fae, all abomination.
After a life spent dodging slurs, threats, and assassination attempts, Lane gave her past the one finger salute and ditched her former fae home for good. The detective agency she and her sisters run on the edge of Las Vegas continues to limp along, with Lane doing more debt collecting and intimidating than investigating, but anything to pay the bills. Between working for low-lifes to bring down even lower-lifes, eating cheesy poofs by the bucket, and flirting with the criminally attractive bartender where she conducts business, life is good.
That ends when a routine job goes sideways, leaving Lane with a sack full of stolen sun shards—the source of sun fae power. Without the shards, the sun fae face giving up their magic completely, or risk death if they use their power. Considering they would rather see her dead, good riddance, as far as Lane’s concerned—except her father and adopted sister are sun fae. Lane must choose—return home to save the fae bastards that almost killed her, or let them burn.
See Also:
Show Me the Money! • What Happens in Vegas… • Sisterhood of the Traveling (Blades)
Book Links:
Universal Link: https://books2read.com/Blood1UBL
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58817749-bad-girls-drink-blood
Author Q&A
Thank you so much for joining us for this short Q&A! Before we get going, please tell us a bit about yourself.
Thank you for having me! A little about me? Wow, unfortunately, I’m not that interesting. I read, I write, I drink coffee and watch hummingbirds in my garden. Other than that, my life is pretty much dictated by the small, furry overlords that run this household.
I want to start things off by asking: what is a great book that you’ve read recently and why should we give it a go?
I’m making my way through K.F. Breene’s Demon Days, Vampire Nights. The action is superb, and it is hilarious. I have apparently been living under a rock and only discovered this series when a reader made a comparison. I WISH! I write with humor, but this book is everything I want when I read. Absolute badass heroine that has me laughing loud and often.
Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of reading/writing? Do you care to elaborate?
Wait, I can’t include reading?!? Then it has to be photography.
Tell us about your road to writing. What made you want to become an author?
There is the typical answer that I have been writing since I was very young – which is true! I used stream of consciousness poetry to work through all my teenage emotions. Sometimes I wrote a poem to go with a picture I’d drawn. I always started stories but never saw them to completion. I wandered away from that path, but I’ve always had stories in my head. It’s really as simple as one day I got serious about it.
Writing is a hard and lonely affair in the best of circumstances. How do you achieve a good work/life/writing balance?
Sometimes I don’t! My husband respects my space while I’m working, but often it’s a seven day a week thing! I’ve gotten better about forcing myself to take time off. I do have some great writing friends who understand the voices in your head and pressures that come with putting a piece of yourself out into the world. I lean on them when I need to. They’re awesome!
Is this your first book? If so, what lessons have you learned from writing it? If not, what lessons did you learn from writing earlier books that you brought into this one?
This is my first published book. I completed an entirely different version of this story a couple years ago (same characters, same world, very different plot). I have another completed story that I love, but it’s YA. I decided I wanted to stay in the adult lane. With each book I moved further from pantster to plotter, and now I write a beat sheet and long synopsis before I start writing the book.
Do you usually write to background noise, music, etc. or do you prefer silence?
I actually prefer white noise – like a coffee shop – while writing. Editing, silence.
What made you want to write in urban fantasy? Do you write (or plan to write) in any other genres?
I just love the genre! You get the action of a thriller mixed with fantasy, generally with a good dose of humor.
At the moment I don’t have plans to write in a different genre, but I do have the makings of an epic fantasy. One day, maybe!
What is one thing that you love about the current state of SFF and what is one thing that you wish you saw more of?
I love that vampires are making a comeback. I love a good vampire story! I’m interested in reading more stories that feature ghosts! I’ve read a few that have ghosts as minor/side characters, and I always enjoy that.
Who are your favorite current writers and who are your greatest influences?
I’ll list my current and always favorites, as well as my greatest influences! Kim Harrison, Patricia Briggs, Ilona Andrews, and Faith Hunter. There are so many more. I’d love to give you a laundry list, but for the sake of ending this interview today, I’ll keep it brief. lol
What do you think characterizes your writing style?
There will always be snark and action (which tends to involved a lot of stabbing and blood).
Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Full-fledged plotter!
What are your favorite types of characters?
Morally gray! Protagonist, villain, doesn’t matter.
How much of yourself do you write into your stories?
I try not to, but it’s unavoidable. I always give my characters quirks/traits/tastes that are very much not me for that reason.
For those who haven’t read Bad Girls Drink Blood, give us the elevator pitch.
True Blood meets Jessica Jones.
If you want to know why those comps – TRUE BLOOD, because Lane is a hybrid blood fae. She’s the only fae in existence and that causes all kinds of problems with her magic, including making her allergic to the blood she needs to access her blood fae powers. She must drink a blend of “blood medicine” to compensate. JESSICA JONES – because she’s a super-strong detective who kicks a lot of ass. A LOT! Lol
Describe your book in 3 adjectives.
Humorous, heart-felt, fast-paced.
What do you think is the overarching theme?
I didn’t set out to apply a theme to the story, but it ended up with one, and it applies to my real life. I suffer from a chronic illness, and I think for that reason I wrote a character with obstacles she must learn to work around. In many ways, they make her stronger for having to fight to accomplish her goals.
Were there any specific challenges with writing Bad Girls Drink Blood? Or, did you find anything to be easier?
The writing itself came easy. However, I moved during the first peak of the pandemic when we sterilized everything and didn’t want to be in the same room as another human, let alone an elevator! It really weighed on me mentally. I experienced my first, true anxiety attack. It took forever to finish those final chapters.
If you had to do so in just one or two sentences, how would you describe the plot of Bad Girls Drink Blood?
Lane Callaghan is hired by her long time enemy to hunt down monsters while proving she isn’t one herself, or accepting that she is.
One of my favorite things is highlighting quotes that really resonate with me and sharing them in my reviews. Do you have a favorite quote from Bad Girls Drink Blood that you can share with us?
I’m bad at this one because there are so many I love. The ones I key in on are not the ones readers migrate to. It also depends if you are in it for the action, the romance, the humor, or the feels.
The one that sort of stuck with me as I was writing is:
“They call me monster, but it’s monsters who haunt my nightmares.”
What can you tell us about what’s coming up next for you?
I’m near the finish line on edits for the second book. Once that is in my editor’s inbox, I will be finishing a Norse-inspired urban fantasy that I love SO MUCH!
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer a few questions for us! I always enjoy this little peek behind the curtain. Do you have any parting thoughts or comments you’d like to leave for our readers?
Thank you for this interview! It was a lot of fun. My only parting thoughts are happy reading, no matter what that might be! (Hopefully mine lol)
About the Author
S.L. Choi is an urban fantasy author with a deep love for humor, fast-paced action, and hit-you-in-the-heart feels. She grew up imagining goblins living in the rocks outside her bedroom window, while fairies flew through the flowers. Now she puts those stories to paper. When not writing, she is either photographing the beautiful New England area, hiking, gaming with her equally nerdy husband, or attending to the small furry overlord who rules them both.
Author Website: https://slchoi.com/
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/s-l-choi
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slchoi_author/
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@slchoi_author
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSLChoi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sl_choi
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21751903.S_L_Choi
Giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Leave a Reply