Earlier today I reviewed Shadows by Ilsa J. Bick for my R.I.P. Challenge. Now I’m back with a juicy interview with Ilsa. She was kind enough to shed some light on the trilogy and mean enough to give a teaser that has me hankering for book 3 more than a Reese Cup on Halloween! I’ll admit what I love about Ms. Bick besides her addictive trilogy is that she’ll converse with her readers via Twitter…Such a high to talk to an author right after you’ve finished (and loved!) their book:

So go forth Ashes Fans…be prepared to gain a bit of knowledge and leave with far more questions than answers!

1.First things first: Favorite and Least Favorite Halloween Costumes.

Favorite: toss-up between my Beverly Crusher Star Trek: Next Generation get-up, or my slinky, sexy Vulcan-harlot, ready for action whenever Spock wants to get down, get funky, get all pon farr: gotcha covered, big boy.

Least: witches.  Vampires.  I mean–<eye roll>–so been there, done that.

2. This book dares up the Gore-Factor from book one. It just punctuates the tension and action through out these characters’ survival paths. Can I assume that given the graphic nature of SHADOWS that you enjoy a good slasher film? Or is there another brand of horror you enjoy better? Give us a Halloween Fright-Night suggestion…

No, I actually find slasher films to be utterly boring and don’t enjoy horror films all that much either.  Life is tough enough, really.  Yeah, these kinds of film are horrific, but . . . snore . . . I mean, yeah, if you’re into blood and stuff, sure, but way too many people equate a ton of gore with what’s scary.  I mean, guys . . . it’s just colored corn syrup.

What’s MUCH more intriguing/frightening/scarilicious are the things you only imagine and don’t see: that Boogey-Man under your bed, for example, or what you only see out of the corner of your eye.  The first Blair Witch was super because it exploited the unseen.  Alien, for example, is another superb example: it’s a haunted house-Halloween-style film set on a ship in outer space (and, no, I actually don’t care for Halloween). Most of these slasher flicks with the guts and the sadistic chop-em-up sequences?  Meh.

Anything I put in a novel is there for a purpose, not simply to amp up the gross-out factor, or because I’ve run out of ideas.  My characters are in horrific, horrible circumstances.  For me, it’s not about the gore.  It’s about what people are capable of doing to one another: the horror of brutality.

3. I must ask about the romance! Tom and Chris are both such strong characters. Good men both of them, I won’t ask for Alex’s opinion…but do you have a favorite? From Ilsa’s point of view, obviously  

Nope, I don’t.  They both have qualities I like, which is why I made them the way I did. J   In fact, my ideal guy would be a combination of the two, and if you think about it, they are quite similar.  Both have secrets; both are competent; both are brave and, yes, hunky in their own ways.  It’s that one guy is a bit surer and outwardly more confident than the other, but they’re still in the process both of healing and becoming.  They have their demons, which I just love in a guy.  Sorry, but I do, maybe because we all have them.

4. I felt that the reveal of Tom’s true experience in Afghanistan – a memory that has been hinted at since book one – came to a head with such relevance and power. I found myself as satisfied with the way you chose to share his story as the ending of some of the cliffhangers scattered throughout the series. Why did you choose to give Tom’s character post traumatic stress? How did the crafting of that final scene come together – the magic of writing in the moment? or Careful crafting?

Tom and PTSD: Well, that was a toughie because while I admire and have great respect for people in combat situations, “soldier’s heart” (which is the old Civil War name for it) is something people like Tom have to deal with on a regular basis.  I chose that venue to illustrate a particular point: a moment when there is no good choice; when you’re truly stuck between a rock and a hard place.  All my characters share that quality. They are forced into situations that demand choice, and then it becomes a question of how much they’re willing to compromise, how far they’ll go to survive.  For Tom to be haunted by a choice he had to make is simply just another way of pointing up that, sometimes, the obstacles are insurmountable, and all you can do is endure.

In addition—and I alluded to this in ASHES—there is something very similar about many of the Spared: their exposure to intense trauma, which we know has permanent effects on the brain.  (Kincaid says this.)  So the irony here is that what injured these people—broke some, is killing others (like Alex and that brain tumor)—is the very thing that has saved them.  Think about that.  Their mental monsters have Spared them from becoming real monsters in a world where there are all kinds, and only some are Changed.

The final scene . . . just came together.  I don’t even remember writing it, per se.  Of course, I don’t remember writing very much of anything, even though I’m a careful outliner because, by the time I’m so deep into a book, I don’t look at the outline.  I just let the characters speak.  That scene wasn’t supposed to be the final one either, but the penultimate scene.  But when I “finished” the book that first time, I do recall that it took me about five minutes—and only five minutes—in which I felt increasingly uneasy. Just a sense that this wasn’t right, wasn’t the feeling I was after. So I switched them around, and felt that uneasiness vanish.  Surprised the heck out of me.

5. I’ll admit that in the first half of the book there was a barrage of new characters, new theories, and multiple points of view. All departures from the first installment of this trilogy, which was a first person narrative if I’m not mistaken. Why did you choose to shift in the second book? Were the additional characters and plots always in the cards for this tale? Or did they come about after sitting with the ending of Ashes for awhile?

Yes, ASHES is Alex all the way, but still third-person not first.  I do write first-person narratives, but they tend to be tighter, more intimate pieces.  ASHES is a big book, in many ways. It introduces a world and an event, so I made it third-person on purpose because I knew I was going to multiple characters and storylines for the subsequent books.  Moving from first-person to a third-person narration would’ve been too jarring.

So, yes, the other characters and their stories, broadening this world, were/was always in the cards and what I envisioned when I began this.  I think when you’re dealing with something so cataclysmic, with such far-reaching consequences, sticking with only a single point of view is not only limiting and quite boring (because, really, one person simply can’t be in all places at once) but doesn’t serve the story at all.  People will deal with terrible events in their own ways, and you need to give them the space to reveal themselves.

6. I’ve already tweeted about this…

But I must ask for further explaination: The multitude of concussions, ripped muscles, traumatic injuries, heck even all the funny bones hit throughout the fight scenes. How do the characters continue to survive? How the heck do you write those incredibly athletic scenes with so much clarity, that I – a gal who doesn’t know how to throw a punch! – can see the action as easily as if it were on a movie screen? Are you a secret cage fighter?

Well, the characters don’t have a choice.  If they misbehave or don’t do what I say, I’ll kill them.  So they better man up and live to fight another day.

Remember: I’m a doctor; I like a lot of physical activity; I don’t go around punching people (break a knuckle if you don’t know what you’re doing), but I know people who do.  So just about everything I write, I’ve either seen or done—and, honestly, in the heat of the moment, especially in battle or life and death situations, the body is wise.  It tries to help you, and many people who’ve survived or suffered these kinds of injuries don’t recall much pain at the time.  Their tissues are flooded with epinephrine to give them more oxygen, make their muscles work better, give them the strength to endure, as well as endorphins to kill the pain so they can survive.  Later, sure, it hurts, but even the brain cushions you.  If you think about it—if you’ve ever had children—do you really remember that pain?  Most often, you don’t.  It’s the brain’s way and the body’s task to keep you going.  I simply exploit that.

7. I must now put you to the test. Imagine that you are being attacked by a changed – wherever you are at this very moment – How would you defend yourself? Channeling your Alex-skills what random objects are you using fight off the Chuckies?

Oh, well . . . hmm.  To be honest?  Almost all people in combat situations understand that, after a certain point, actual engagement with a superior force is to be avoided at all costs.  You want to live to fight when it’s to your advantage to fight because you want to win.  That’s one of the reasons why the military teaches folks how to evade.  You don’t want to fight if your odds are crummy.

Having said that: I’d certainly cut my hair if I were Alex (but this is fiction, so…).  Hair is a killer; they can snag you; they can strangle you with it.  Cut your hair.

Weapon-wise: you know, give me a silenced, scoped Uzi, a couple spare mags, and then a really good tree or mountain with the ability to egress because everyone forgets to look up.  Defending from the high ground is always preferable so long as you have a way of getting down and away.  Oh, and a good ammo dump nearby.

Knives are nice, too, and they don’t run out of bullets, but if you’re not expert in close-quarters combat or your hand slips . . . then you’re shit out of luck and bleeding like stink.
8. I’ll admit at the end of SHADOWS you leave the reader wondering if the Spared will eventually turn Changed. Dare I ask you to give us hope?

Well . . . you can hope.  That’s the thing about this world: no one is safe, and nothing is certain.  Now . . . think about living with that kind of uncertainty.  Tough, huh?

9. I do, I Dare…I’m asking for 5 words to describe the final book of the series:

Someone will die.  Someone must.

OMG. That teaser! Months, of wondering who’s going to get cut. It’s going to haunt my runs, I just know it! lol. If you’d like to haunt Ilsa virtually (or stalk the series!) check out her Web Page or follow her on Twitter.