Do you remember BookCrossing? It's been years since I last logged in. Funny that I was thinking of the book which I had last read the last time I was at the site. I couldn't remember the author or the title, but there it was, first on my profile page.

"Second hand books are wild books, homeless books; they have come together in vast flocks of variegated feather, and have a charm which the domesticated volumes of the library lack."

• Virginia Woolf

A friend who joined the site with me, Skye Truheart, I have not heard from for many years. Each time I find something, a link to her somewhere, like her old Blogger account, or now this, I try again to find her. No luck. I'm sure I had her name and address to send a Christmas card but I've lost it long ago. I'd like to find her and know she is doing ok.

I began reading the Immortality Bites series when the first paranormal romance came out in paperback at my local book store. The last three books in the Immortality Bites series have evolved from paranormal romance to the mystery genre. An interesting switch in genre while staying true to the original characters and style of the books.

Michelle Rowen is a Canadian writer, from the Toronto area. This year Michelle celebrated a ten year anniversary for heroine, the main character, Sarah Dearly. Ten years from the original idea, books published in two genres to now. Quite an accomplishment.

Finding Michelle Rowen Online

Michelle Rowen Twitter Facebook

A Quick Interview with Michelle Rowen

I was disappointed to read that you have put the Immortality Bites mystery series on the back burner. Do you have plans to keep Sarah Dearly going, maybe in another genre?

I'm very happy to hear you've enjoyed the series! I would say, more than "putting it on the back burner," that after writing about Sarah for a decade, over seven books in which she "starred," we've both come to a comfortable stopping place. I absolutely adore the paranormal mystery genre, so the future will probably include more books about a brand new main character, or perhaps I'll get the urge to revisit Sarah and Thierry one day and see where their adventures have taken them.

What was the hardest or most interesting thing about writing in the mystery genre?

I started writing in what could only be properly described as "paranormal chick-lit" when it was a hot genre back in 2006. Before too long, most paranormal readers began looking for grittier and sexier books, rather than quirky and funny. What I love about paranormal mysteries is that the "fun" stuff that I love can rise to the surface again. Mystery readers (specifically in cozy paranormals) are totally okay with talking animals, wacky spells, and sarcastic heroines -- which is what I love to write the most.

Why did you choose to write a mystery rather than science fiction, fantasy or the horror genre?

For many of the reasons stated in the last question... there's more room to explore the fun side of things that isn't entirely welcomed in other genres. Also, I will admit that Sarah is the one character I've written that stubbornly directed me in what she wanted -- probably since she's existed in my head for so long, she feels she can take such liberties. And after she got the vampire of her dreams (who, FYI, was not the guy she was originally supposed to end up with at the end of Bitten & Smitten!), she implicitly stated that now she was ready to solve some mysteries. There were always mystery and suspense elements in the original series, so it felt like a very natural evolution.

I really enjoy your writing style. What was your writing background before you became a published writer?

Thank you! It took me a while to find my voice. I spent my "wannabe a writer" years trying to write historical romances and literary fiction, to no great success or personal passion. I'd say that my love of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a huge influence on me -- and I know it was a huge influence on many other paranormal authors. Around the same time, I discovered first person urban fantasies, in particular the earlier Anita Blake books, that helped me develop my own writing. I even wrote some fan fiction to practice, which will never, ever, ever see the light of day. grin They say write what you love to read, so that's what I tried (and still try!) to do.

What do you especially like to read yourself?

I'd love to say I read widely, but that is a goal I constantly fail at. Currently I seem to read a great deal of YA paranormal and fantasy books, almost always in first person, and...judging from my TBR shelf... not much else! I used to be a big Stephen King fan and would love to get back to his writing. And I am a major Karen Marie Moning fan who is counting down the days until the next Fever book.

What do you see as the future of paranormal novels? It seems to be a genre that's slowing down a bit.

I think, like with every "hot" genre, there is a life span to it. Paranormal has been super hot for, I'd say, twelve years now, which is quite a long time in publishing. A few years ago, I visited a bookstore to see that the shelves, particularly in the romance department, were full to overflowing with paranormals, as publishers scrambled to put out what readers were buying. Nothing can be sustained at those numbers for long, and readers' tastes change. As businesses that need to see a profit to survive, publishers will try to meet these changing interests. Luckily, now there is the option of self publishing and authors who love to write PNR can take the fates of their vampires, werewolves, or fae princes, into their own hands -- and straight to the reading public who can't find it as plentifully on the selves anymore. It's a great time to be a writer!

Reading Immortality Bites

The name Sarah means "princess" and I was expecting the character would be another of those vampire princess types who seem to have endless money and resources for shopping, beauty and fashion being a feature of the book as much as the story itself. I was very glad to be wrong.

Although fashion is part of the story it is not the focus. Instead you will find an adventure with plot twists, a strong backstory, unexpectedly likeable villains and characters you don't easily forget. The writing style flows and carries you along. I found myself unable to stop reading until after 4:00 AM when I came to the last page and all the loose ends were tied up in a fairly happy ending for most of the characters. No, not everyone gets a happy ending, some just get to carry on and maybe find themselves in another story.

The story is the thing in a book by Michelle Rowen.

Links for Christopher Moore Fans

Christopher Moore Twitter - @TheAuthorGuy Bluesky - @theauthorguy Christopher Moore's Blog

You don't need to read the books of Christopher Moore in any order. I can say that from my own experience. I have read them in no order what so ever.

I read "The Stupidest Angel" first. I thought it might be a funny Christmas story so I added it to my over night bag when I visited my brother over the Christmas holidays (about 3 years ago). Sure, it was in the holiday theme.

I would not now claim it as a family friendly, warm hearted holiday tale. Don't mistake this to mean the book was anything less than great. From that first book I have searched and dug for Christopher Moore books until I have now read all but 3 of them (I've started reading Lamb so that will leave just two soon).

A Quick Interview with Christopher Moore

I read a review you wrote about Dracula. I haven't read it yet but was surprised you have it as a favourite. It's not a funny book! :)

I started out a horror writer, it's just that people laughed at my horror stories, so I went that way.

Your books overlap from humour to horror, historical and dabble in science fiction/ fantasy - which is your favourite genre to write?

I don't even think about genre because my stuff straddles so many. I do prefer writing historical for a couple of reasons. One, I usually learn something cool in the research, and second there were no cell phones. Cell phones can be a great device to get information between characters, but for suspense they can be a killer, and I'm finding a lot of writers are depending on the "no service" device to keep the suspense heightened. (Last episode of True Detective. Why not call back-up? No cell service.)

Your one liners on Twitter are great. How do you keep fresh inspiration and ideas flowing for your books and Twitter too?

Well, I tend to react to the world in a humorous way by default, so Twitter is easy because I can react to anything in the news, a quote, a meme, anything. Twitter is sort of the natural habitat of the nonsequitur, so if something comes out of left field, it's okay, it will probably work. For a novel, I'm usually reacting to the world that I've created in the book, and usually from the point of view of the characters, so I'm constrained by say, 19th century Paris, so I have to think in that context. There are times, though, when I'm working on a book and I just don't have anything to put on Twitter because I'm in the world of the book. I'm still not sure I know how to do Twitter, right, anyway. Cleverness doesn't necessarily translate to followers. I think I've discovered that people respond better to being nice and insipid than being clever and funny.

I loved the idea of vampires being turned to statues but what I really want to know - Is Abby Normal going to be back soon?

You read all three, right? She's sort of the star of Bite Me. She also has a cameo appearance in the book I'm writing now, the sequel to A Dirty Job.

Sacre Bleu was more than just a fun read. You did a lot of research for that book. I think it must have been tricky to bring famous people from history into life, as characters in your story. How did you decide on their personalities and how far to take them into your fiction?

The thing about the impressionists is we know a lot about them, unlike the characters in Lamb, from 1st Century Palestine, about which we know almost nothing. So you have letters by Cezanne, for instance, both to Bazille, and about Bazille. Renoir's son wrote a biography of him while the artist was still alive, and Renoir comments on the personalities of the artists. Most of the letters, of course, are much more formal than anyone would speak, so I have them being more casual in their speech, and probably more casual than they actually were. Toulouse-Lautrec was the one I really took a lot of liberties with because I needed a character who was naturally funny, but when you see the photos of him, he seems like he was a pretty playful guy. Ultimately, though, I crafted the book around the artists who I thought I would like, personally, like Bazille and Renoir, and I didn't have the ones who didn't resonate as much with me, like Degas and Cezanne, although I think that the latter two were probably the better painters.

I'm looking forward to your new book, Serpent of Venice. But, I'm partial to Pine Cove because I began reading your books with The Stupidest Angel. I've read them in backwards order, finished reading Practical Demonkeeping this Spring and read the Lust Lizard last year. Are the people of Pine Cove going to survive the next monster you drop in on them?

I really don' t have any plans to go back to Pine Cove. When I was writing those books I lived in a little coastal town in California that sort of mirrored Pine Cove, but I left there in 2003 and since then my "go to" location has been San Francisco. I just don't have new observations about a small town I could put in a new book.

I read Frankenstein this year and began short stories by H.P. Lovecraft over the summer. Do the horror classics inspire you and which (if any) are your favourites?

I read those when I was coming up, in my teens, and with both of those, Frankenstein and the Lovecraft stories, you have to take them as products of their time. The stories and mood of Lovecraft stick with you, the feeling of dread, but his writing was very formal and sort of dense, I think largely because he was getting paid by the word, but also because of the 19th century stories that inspired him. So you learn very early on that you can't and shouldn't write like Lovecraft. Shelly is similar. She was brilliant, sort of beyond of my ability to comprehend of someone who was 19 year old, but she was of her time. Frankenstein is extraordinary in many ways, but I think I knew by the time I was 17 that I'd never be able to write that way and make a living, and that's what I wanted to do. So yes, you HAVE to read those classics. You have to know what has come before. (What T.S. Eliot calls "the poetic tradition") Otherwise you're going to do something that was done better a hundred years ago and you may not even put a good spin on it. There used to be a running joke among sci-fi writers that everyone, at some point, would write a "the star was a spaceship and Jesus was an alien" story and think they were the first one to have the idea. (I know I did.) If you don't know that's a non-starter, you just pile on. You read that stuff and you take what you can from it. You'll go back years later, after you know more, and Frankenstein will be a new book.

I wrote a story or two imitating Lovecraft and Poe in my teens and they were terrible, but that said, The Serpent of Venice is partly based on an Edgar Allan Poe story, so having read those classics have served me pretty well. I could probably do with a refresher read on a lot of them.

Why I'm a Fan of Christopher Moore's Books He writes horror, fantasy, and humour all some how rolled up into one winding yet believable story. The key is, believable. No matter what he writes about: vampires, monsters, drug dealers, serial killers, or ageing porn stars - the stories will keep you reading more and laughing along with him.

I'm reading Frankenstein.

I picked an edition which includes a lot of extras, mostly about Mary Shelley, the author and her life. Did you know her Mother wrote a classic book about women and women's rights long before it became a popular issue? Mary was a liberated woman herself. Yet, these ideals must have been given to her from her Father (William Godwin) because she never met her Mother. Mary Wollstonecraft died just after giving birth to her daughter. How did that form Mary and what did it add to her story about creating life, death and regret?

I picked Frankenstein as my classic fiction book to read this year because I do find the theory of reanimating life, animals able to grow back body parts and cloning interesting. Modern science is doing the same sort of research still. I don't think we really do hear about all that goes on in various laboratories around the world. Likely, there are still horror stories being written in the name of science (fame and fortune too).

Did you Know Frankenstein Will be 200 Years Old in 2018?

Frankenstein, the book, is almost 200 years old. The original story was published in 1818, a third edition came out in 1831. This was the final edition, with all her rewrites and additions to the story.

As I read Frankenstein, I am enjoying a glimpse of the past and the old style of writing. It really is more like prose, lines of poetry, than our style of plainer writing these days. I wonder if people also spoke that way or was the writing just that bit more formal.

My nephew, Zack, read Frankenstein for school and said he hated it. I think he just didn't like the style of writing, the prose which goes on and on about scenery and emotions rather than pressing on to move the story ahead or dwell on gruesome details. We are used to such a different way of telling a story these days - this does make it harder to read a book written 200 years ago.

Still I am enjoying the read, the adventure back in history and the idea of recreating life from something dead and how that could work out if I were to write my own story of Frankenstein.

Frankenstein: Read it or Watch it

In the later editions of Mary Shelley's book publishers had her revise the story, make it less shocking for people of the day. You can still find copies of the book, the original story from 1818. However, in the edition I'm reading the actual process of creating the monster is not written about in anything near to the detail which it has been given in the Frankenstein movies.

Also, it's interesting that the books consider the monster to be named Frankenstein. If people refer to Frankenstein they usually mean the monster created by Victor Frankenstein. Actually, in the mind of Victor Frankenstein himself he thinks he is the monster for creating this creature, or daemon has he refers to it more than once in the book.

Frankenstein in Film 1910 and Onwards.

From 1910 to the current I, Frankenstein movie trailer, you can find many versions of Frankenstein to watch. But, read the book at some point. It's the original and the inspiration for all the versions of Frankenstein which have come along since Mary Shelley published her story.

Life Without Soul was the second movie made from Frankenstein but there are no known copies of it surviving.

There had been a theatre production in 1826.

Pauline Gedge is a Canadian fiction writer of ancient history. Most of her books are about ancient Egypt. But, the book I most remember is the very first of her books I ever read: The Eagle and the Raven. It was a book about the British Queen Boudicca. At that time I just had to know more about this ancient Queen who commanded an army and sacked a city. Her husband was killed, her daughters molested and yet Boudicca fought on. Rome had to step up it's game to defeat the Celtic Queen.

The book is about other important people in history at that time and place. Caradoc, the leader of another British tribe and the soldiers and leaders sent from Rome too. I do remember the character of Caradoc (I even got a little fictional crush on him while reading the book). None of the others can hold a candle to Boudicca. She stayed with me and has never stopped being an interest of mine every since I first read her story in Pauline Gedge's book.

But, that is all ancient history. Boudicca, Caradoc and the others are all long dead. I wish the book had become a series of books as Pauline has done with her books about people and times in ancient Egypt, but it didn't turn out that way (so far).

If you like reading historical fiction I highly suggest you pick up The Eagle and the Raven. It was an epic story. I read it when I was still a school girl and then read it again 30 years later and just found more to love about it.