Author Interview: Rachel Caine & Ghost Town Giveaway

Today's the release day for a slew of new books in urban fantasy and paranormal romance, including Rachel Caine's ninth Morganville Vampires book, Ghost Town. Check out my Fiction Affliction columns over at Tor.com  featuring all the October and November releases in urban fantasy/paranormal romance, young adult, epic fantasy and science fiction. You can catch up on all 150-plus October and November releases in these genres at this link. Keep scrolling down to get to your favorite category!

I've been running the full text of some of the mini interviews from the column this month. So far, we've heard from Cherie Priest (Dreadnought), Jennifer Estep (Venom), Kalayna Price (Grave Witch), Richard Kadrey (Kill the Dead), and Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (Beautiful Creatures).

Today, though, I welcome Rachel Caine, whose Weather Warden series has always been a favorite of mine, and whose great Morganville Vampires series is still going strong. Ghost Town, which releases today, is the first to come out in hardback and it sounds awesome. Read on to the end to see how to win your own copy. 

In the new book, while developing a new system to maintain Morganville's defenses, student Claire Danvers discovers a way to amplify vampire mental powers. Through this, she's able to re-establish the field around this vampire-infested Texas college town that protects it from outsiders. But the new upgrades have an unexpected consequence: people inside the town begin to slowly forget who they are--even the vampires. Soon, the town's little memory problem has turned into a full-on epidemic. Now Claire needs to figure out a way to pull the plug on her experiment--before she forgets how to save Morganville...

Here's what Rachel had to say:

Q: What has kept the Morganville Vampires going for nine books now?

Rachel: WOW. Is it already nine books in the Morganville Vampires series? I can't believe how much fun I'm having writing these characters and this universe, and it's a real thrill to celebrate the release of GHOST TOWN, the first hardcover of the series. In many ways I think about this series as the underdog ... it wasn't particularly popular when GLASS HOUSES came out, but the sales got a little better with the second book, then the third, then the fourth ... every book kept going up. It's a little bit amazing for the series to get to the bestseller lists after three years, and I'm very, very honored and humbled by the enthusiasm of my readers and booksellers. I really think Morganville has grown by word of mouth and the support of its fans.

Q: Why do you think YA fiction is such a hot market right now?

Rachel: The Young Adult market is growing not only because a lot of adult readers have come over because they're drawn to the storytelling, but also because reading has become a social experience among teens. It's a shared passion, something you do with your friends, not something that isolates you, as it was when I was growing up. And that has revolutionized and revitalized the YA book market. It's really exciting to see it happen, and I am delighted to be part of it!

THE CONTEST: If you're a YA reader, tell us what you like about it? If not, tell us why not? I'll go first. I do like reading YA, at least in short bursts, because of the emotional depth--teens tend to feel things very deeply and with a purity adults have too much baggage to master. On the other hand, I'm at an age where I can't much identify with a 16-year-old, so it has to be a REALLY good story universal theme to hold my interest.

To win a new copy of GHOST TOWN by Rachel Caine, comment with your answer below. As always, tell me if you're a blog follower for an extra entry and a Twitter follower @Suzanne_Johnson for a third entry. I'll draw on Friday!