Welcome to the next stop on the Slayers: Friends and Traitors blog tour hosted by Fire and Ice. Check out the kickoff post here. For my stop today I have a guest post from the author!
Writing dragons in the modern world
People have had a love/hate relationship with dragons for centuries. One of the really odd things about dragon lore is that it’s found nearly worldwide and between civilizations that had no contact with each other. In Hawaiian mythology, the dragon goddess Kihawahine hid her true form from her human husband. When he found out she was a dragon, he ran away from her. Kihawahine called all the dragons of Molokai, Lanai, Maui, Kahoolawe and Hawaii to fly to her aid and help her retrieve her errant husband.
How many other mythological creatures offer marriage counseling? That’s how cool dragons are.
It’s a little harder to write modern day stories with dragons. Putting a dragon in a modern setting begs the question: Where have dragons been all this time?
When I was young, I watched a lot of Godzilla movies. Granted, Godzilla wasn’t a dragon, but he was still a huge, scary reptile that liked to munch on screaming pedestrians. As a child, I was glad that dinosaurs, dragons, and Godzilla-like creatures were all extinct. I felt safe—that is until I was in fifth grade and learned about cicadas. Certain types of cicada lay dormant in the ground for 17 years. Then they emerge and do whatever it is that cicadas do. (Generally, this means they make lots of noise, and if you’re unfortunate, they may also fly into your hair.) With a 17 year life cycle, predators can’t depend on cicadas for a constant food source.
After learning about cicadas, I immediately worried that dinosaurs, dragons, and Godzilla-like creatures weren’t really extinct; their eggs were laying dormant somewhere—possibly in my backyard—just waiting to hatch.
The fun thing about being a writer is that you can take your childhood phobias and turn them into an award winning series.
I hope readers love/hate my modern dragons as much as I do. They’re not really bad—they just want to eat you.
About the Book: In C.J. Hill’s action-packed sequel to Slayers, the group of teens known as Slayers have been betrayed—but they won’t give up without a fight.
About the Author: CJ Hill is a pen name for a YA author who is best known for
writing romantic comedies. (Slayers will be her 18th published book.) Her writing has shifted away from the romantic comedy genre, so her editor thought a pen name would be a good idea. (New books will include: dangerous dragons, time travel to dystopian worlds, and flesh-eating beetles.) Since the publisher refused to let her have the pseudonym : The Artist Formerly Referred to as Princess, she chose a name to honor her mother. CJ Hill was her mother’s pen name, or at least it would have been if her mother had published. Her mother wrote a few children’s books and a middle grade novel but was taken by cancer before she had fully learned the craft.
CJ Hill has five children, three of whom like her on any given day depending on who is in trouble. She has lived in Arizona for the last half of her life, but is still in desert denial and hopes that one day her garden will grow silver bells and cockle shells or maybe just tomatoes
Visit all the stops on the Slayers: Friends and Traitors blog tour hosted by Fire and Ice
Heather at Fire and Ice– October 15- Guest Post
Taffy Lovell– October 16- Review
Elana Johnson– October 17- Interview
Rebecca Lamoureaux– October 18- Interview
Heidi at Geo Librarian– October 19- Review
Robin Ambrose-October 20- Character Interview
Rachel at Fiktshun– October 21- Guest Post
Kathy at I’m A Reader– October 22- Guest Post
Shanda at LDSWBR– October 23- Review
Kathy at Clean Teen Fic– October 24- Review
Sheila Staley- Why Not? Because I Said So!- October 25- Review
Heidi at YA Bibliophile– October 26- Guest Post
Cindy Bennett– October 27- Excerpt
Tressa at Tressa’s Wishful Endings- October 28- Review
Tamera at Being a Mom and Loving It– October 29- Guest Post, Tens List
Mindy Holt- Min Reads and Reviews– October 30- Review
Kelly at Kindle and Me– October 31-Guest Post
Elizabeth at Elizabeth’s Book Reviews– November 1-Review
Aimee Brown at Getting Your Read On- November 1- Review
Mindy from Magical Urban Fantasy Reads– November 2- Character Interview
Amber at Me, My Shelf and I– November 3- Guest Post
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