New York Times best-selling author Kim Harrison – the pseudonym of Dawn Cook – is glad that Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood is still making movies.
Her novels in her best-selling series of supernatural novels called “The Hollows” riff on the titles of his movies and her latest, “Demon’s Bluff” (the 18th in the series), is no exception; its title is a play on Eastwood’s 1968 movie, “Coogan’s Bluff.”
“It’s getting harder to play on his titles, but – fortunately – Mr. Eastwood is still making movies,” said Harrison, who lives outside Ann Arbor.
Harrison will sign copies of “Demon’s Bluff” at Schuler Books Ann Arbor on Tuesday, Oct. 22, at 6:30 p.m. This is also the day the novel is released at this ticketed event.
“Schuler Books has been with me for a good 10 years, helping me get signed books all over the world,” she said. “I’m forever grateful that they are willing to ship everywhere. It’s not easy wrangling the orders for a new title, and that they are still willing to help me shows their commitment not just to me, but to the reader. How can I not support/love that?”
The protagonist of “The Hollows” is Rachel Morgan, a witch and bounty hunter from Cincinnati, where magic and supernatural creatures are prevalent. Rachel’s job is keeping the supernatural community at peace and in line. Rachel stemmed from Cook’s desire to create a character with the attraction of the “girl next door” coupled with the appeal of someone who needs to make a positive difference in the world.
“It sounds trite to say Rachel has grown, but she has. Her decision making now includes what’s good for those around her, not just herself. She sees the consequences of her actions and considers them. She’s far more powerful, but along with that comes a new vulnerability: She’s found love, made hard choices, and learned how much she owes to those around her. It’s harder to get her into trouble with her new outlook, but when she finds herself in a bind, it’s usually layered and that much more satisfying to get her out,” explained Harrison.
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The impetus to write “Demon’s Bluff” came from threads Harrison did not tie off in her previous novel, “Demons of Good and Evil.”
“There is a little of that sentiment here, however, I have to admit that I have missed a certain vampire since his demise quite early in the series,” said Harrison. “Like Rachel, it was never my intent to bring Kisten back. It just kind of happened. Looking back on the completed novel, I wonder if it had been my intent all along. I just needed the right mix on the pages for it to work. So I guess you could say that Kisten was my inspiration. He was cut down right when he began to become his own person, and that always bothered me.”
Harrison spoke about what makes “Demon’s Bluff” stand out from previous novels in the series.
“‘Demon’s Bluff’ is different from most ‘Hollows’ books in that Rachel is more alone here than in just about any other ‘Hollows’ book,” explained Harrison. “She has set herself in the past without her found family of Jenks and Ivy. Her lover, Trent, would be more likely to put her in jail, and her demon mentor Al, would abduct her if he could. She is truly alone in her quest, forced to work with an adversary to find her way home. But in true Rachel Morgan style, she survives despite her good deeds.”
The highlight of writing “Demon’s Bluff” was getting to write time travel.
“I adore writing time travel!” said Harrison. “I don’t get to do it often, and it was hard to work it in without breaking existing rules. Even so, this is a one-shot deal. No going back in time again.”
According to Harrison, the series’ staying power is in the secondary characters, which gives it much of its staying power.
“(It’s) in Ivy, who is struggling to break from her addiction to accept she is worthy of love; in Jenks, who has loved, and lost, and is struggling to remake himself; in Al, whose immense power has left his soul bereft of goal and meaning; in Trent, who desperately wants to be his own person but is pulled into being what he has to be, what he’s good at – not who he wants to be. The storyline is as simple or as complicated as you want it to be depending on how deep you want to look inside yourself,” she said.
This year celebrates the 20th anniversary of “The Hollows,” its first book in the series, “Dead Witch Walking,” debuted in 2004.
“I am shocked and gratified that the series has gone on this long,” said Harrison. “I like to tell people it’s the longest short story I’ve ever written, because that’s how ‘The Hollows’ got its start.”
Kim Harrison at Schuler Books
Kim Harrison will sign copies of “Demon’s Bluff” at Schuler Books Ann Arbor, located at 2513 Jackson Ave., in the Westgate Shopping Center. This is a ticketed event, so register today. For questions or more information, contact Schuler Books at (734) 662-0600 or info@schulerbooks.com.
