3/15/2011

Tamara Hogan

Tamara Hogan loathes cold and snow, but nonetheless lives in the Minneapolis exurbs with her partner Mark and two naughty cats. When she’s not telecommuting as a quality and process engineer for a global networking company, she enjoys writing edgy urban fantasy romance with an SF twist. A voracious reader with an unapologetic television addiction, Tammy is forever on the lookout for the perfect black boots.




CSI meets True Blood in a new urban fantasy romance series with a supernatural crimes unit...

Winner of a 2009 Daphne du Maurier Award for Mystery and Suspense, and a 2009 Romance Writers of America Golden Heart® finalist, Taste Me is the first book in a gritty, fast-paced, sexy urban fantasy romance series set in a world where incubi, sirens, Valkyries, vampires, werewolves and faeries live undetected alongside humankind. In Taste Me, incubus security guru Lukas Sebastiani is suckered into playing bodyguard for his former lover, siren rock star Scarlett Fontaine – and neither of them are happy about it.

Read an excerpt! (mature readers only)

CAT: What’s your favorite cartoon character?
TAMMY: South Park’s Eric Cartman. His creators, Peabody Award winners Trey Parker and Matt Stone, deliver some of the most thought-provoking and insightful cultural commentary out there, while making my inner twelve-year-old snicker.

CAT: What turns you off like nothing else?
TAMMY: Prejudice. And the sound of someone snapping their gum.

CAT: Where do you read and how often?
TAMMY: I read in the bathtub for an hour every day (I take baths rather than showers). I also read nearly every night before bed.

CAT: What sound or noise do you love?
TAMMY: The sound of a snuffling puppy or kitten.

CAT: Die Hard or Die Harder?
TAMMY: Die Hard, of course. Why? The delicious Alan Rickman.

CAT: Who’s your favorite villain?
TAMMY: Hannibal Lechter from Silence of the Lambs. For some reason I find the concept of a psychiatrist serial killer absolutely fascinating. What goes on in his head? He has to know he’s a psychopath.

CAT: Do you write while listening to music? If so what kind?
TAMMY: Music is a critical tool for me; I HAVE to listen to music when I write. I usually write at my hometown coffee shop, and find it really difficult to filter out the conversations, the hiss of the espresso machine, the squeal of toddlers, the slamming of the door. Listening to music gives me a single loud thing to listen to, rather than a hundred softer ones which are infinitely more distracting, if that makes sense. I also use iPod playlists to more quickly dial into a POV character’s headspace. My playlists are emotion-based. I have playlists for happiness, serenity, anger, and for love scenes, of course. I find I’m also influenced by the pace of music as well. I have a playlist called “Need for Speed” that I queue up when I’m doing fast-drafting or writing sprints. I can’t help but type faster when I listen to Bowie’s “Suffragette City” or The Prodigy’s “Breathe.” I’ll listen to anything from Gregorian chants to death metal, and have a marked preference for the music of my youth - the 1980’s.

CAT: If you could interview one person (and it doesn’t have to be a writer) who would it be?
TAMMY: Does the person have to be alive? If not, Carl Sagan. If so, Tina Fey.

CAT: What do you do to unwind and relax?
TAMMY: Watch TV, and read in the bathtub, of course! I have a chronic pain condition, and spending time in the bathtub is an important aspect of my pain management routine. Everyone in my family knows to give me Bath and Body Works gift cards for Christmas, and after the holidays, I buy a dozen bottles of bubble bath at a time. I also love to shop at vintage shops and consignment stores. I honestly don’t remember the last time I paid retail prices for a pair of jeans or a party dress.

CAT: Tea or Coffee? And how do you take it?
TAMMY: Coffee with cream, please. I love coffee. High-end restaurant coffee, fast-food coffee, burned gas station coffee. I love coffee’s heat, its scent, its taste. I honestly don’t care whether the coffee is caffeinated or not; my body doesn’t seem to recognize the difference.

CAT: What would you say is your most interesting quirk?
TAMMY: Hmm, tough question. I have so many tics and quirks to choose from! I’ll have to go with my annoyance with certain sounds. The sound of someone snapping gum, or chewing with their mouth open, the clack of fingers against a keyboard, forks scraping against plates, or the soft, repetitive click of the plunger on top of a pen, drives me OFF THE RAILS. I find these sounds absolutely excruciating to listen to. Chapter mates, or fellow conference attendees, if you start taking notes with an AlphaSmart and I suddenly get up and change seats, this is the reason why. It’s not you, it’s me. (Thank you thank you thank you to the person who suggested I research a condition called Soft Sound Sensitivity Syndrome.) Being trapped on an airplane within hearing distance of a gum snapper—<shudder> multiple gum snappers! —is my personal seventh circle of hell.

CAT’S GOTTA ASK
If you were a t-shirt, what color would you be and why?

TAMMY’S GOTTA ANSWER
Black, of course – why change now? Most of my shoe collection is black, so a black T-shirt always matches.

GOT A QUESTION YOU’D LIKE TO ASK YOUR FANS?
Music is an essential tool for me when I write. How about you? Is there a genre of music you particularly love or loathe? Which band comes after U2 in your music collection? (Me? Urban Guerillas.)

WILL YOU HAVE A DRAWING FROM THOSE LEAVING COMMENTS?
Yes! Two randomly-selected commenters will receive a copy of Taste Me! (USA and Canada only) Thank you, Sourcebooks!***

Tammy would love to hear from you. Here’s where she can be found:
Tammy’s website is: http://www.tamarahogan.com/
Tammy’s Twitter: @tamarahogan1

***Note: Offer void where prohibited. Prizes will be mailed to North America addresses only. If an Advanced Reading Copy (ARC) is available, the author may utilize that option for International participants. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants.

19 comments:

  1. My favorite type of music is hard rock. My favorite band would have to be Metallica. I just love their music!

    Your book sounds great and I would love to win a copy.

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  2. Hi Tammy! Welcome to GLIAS. Loved doing your interview.

    Music is a huge part of my life. Although I'm pretty much a big geek with what I listen to. I love soundtracks and Broadway musicals. I listen to instrumentals when I write. New Age stuff. Interpretive piano. Alternative stuff like Garbage, In The Nursery, Enigma.

    I have that whole soft sounds thing going too. If there's a lot of white noise, even loud conversations, I can ignore it, but those soft sounds like my cat cleaning herself. It's all I can concentrate on and that drives me crazy.

    Good luck with the book. I know it's going to be a great success for you!

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  3. Velvet Revolver is listed on my iPod after U2. That is a pretty good representation of my musical tastes. I also like Alternative.

    Congratulations on the new book series! Taste Me sounds awesome.

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  4. June, have you seen the Metallica documentary, "Some Kind of Monster"? If not, I highly recommend it. Lots of insight into the music and the men.

    Good morning, Cat! Your comment about your cat cracks me up. Just last night, one of my cats woke me up because he was licking his paws while lying at the foot of the bed. ;-)

    Stacie, I have a couple of Velvet Revolver albums on my iPod, too. I'm a huge Scott Weiland fan, and I think the performance section of VR's "Slither" video is about the hottest thing I've ever seen. I saw them a couple of years ago, and someone dumped beer on my leather jacket. Though it peeved me immensely at the time, now whenever I wear that jacket I think of the concert.

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  5. Hi Tamara! Welcome to GLIAS :)

    I am learning to write in a coffee shop mornings that the Boy is in preschool...even the iPod doesn't always drown out the background noise sometimes. I need to invest in some serious noise canceling headphones, I think! I'm always amazed when writers can write with worded music or TV going...I can barely do instrumental, and definitely can't have other words in my head when I'm trying to formulate my own.

    As for what I like to listen to--anything and everything! From opera to rap, you can pretty much count me in.

    Have a great day!

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  6. Hi Heather - I love writing at the coffee shop because there's nothing else for me to do there! It's completely focused time because I keep the wireless disabled on my netbook. All I have with me in my writing bag is a computer, a notebook and my tunes. Nothing else. The Bose noise cancelling headphones are an important factor in my productivity. ;-)

    I'll probably make some enemies with this comment, but one genre of music I don't really like is country. Some of the lyrics are fantastic - great storytelling - but the sound doesn't really do it for me.

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  7. Welcome, Tamara.
    I'd love to interview Tina Fey, too. Such a smart writer. Congratulations on your release!

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  8. Hi Maureen! Re: Tina Fey, talk about a triple threat. Great writer, hilarious performer, and management skills to boot (as head writer at SNL and producing 30 Rock). All that, plus she's married and has a little girl. I'd love to know how she juggles it all.

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  9. Welcome to GLIAS, Tamara.
    Music is very essential. When I find the right combination of inspiration...it takes me right back to the mood I need every time to write. But it's always been important. I have very eclectic tastes...but just can't do LIVE JAZZ.

    ~~Angi

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  10. Angi, I can't say I've heard a lot of live jazz, either. It's an area where my musical education is definitely lacking!

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  11. Right after U2 is UNKLE. I pretty much listen to anything. I will say I am not the biggest fan of country. I have a few songs but I usually only like 1 or 2 a year. Right now my favorite genre is indie rock and alternative. I seriously like everything though. One minute I'm listing to a hard rock song and then the next I'm listing to Frankie Valli. Just depends on my mood.

    I can't wait to read this book. It looks so good. As soon as I saw it the other day I went and added it to my wishlist. I will definitely be reading this book soon.

    iqb99@yahoo.com

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  12. Hi Danielle! I'll admit to having a couple of Keith Urban, Dixie Chicks and Carrie Underwood songs on the 'Pod. Carrie Underwood singing Heart's "Alone" during her season of American Idol is one of my favorite vocal performances ever. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMBSDpB3WB8

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  13. Welcome, Tammy!

    Snapping gum drives me INSANE.

    Also chewing. Also windshield wipers, when the windshield is a little dry and they make that draggy sound *shudder*

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  14. Simone, my sistah! I think there are more of us bothered by sounds like that than anyone realizes. Sometimes it's difficult to remove yourself from the situation, and that's when noise cancelling headphones are lifesavers. I always carry my iPod with me, especially when eating alone in restaurants. You never know if the person seated next to you might be a loud eater.

    My poor niece pretty much spits out her gum the minute she walks into my house. Auntie Tammy's rule is that if she can't chew it quietly, she can't chew it at all.

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  15. Hi Tammy!
    You know already that I'm a big fan :-) I wish you tons of success with TASTE ME. I can't write with music that has lyrics and I don't bother with any music while I'm working. Any other time, though, I love blasting my music. I'm pretty boring in my tastes -- I still love oldies and if I'm glum The Beatles will always, always cheer me up. I also like alternative rock and pop and I don't do much hip hop or rap. Give me Green Day or Plain White T's. And I'm so sappy I'm an Adam Lambert fan too.

    Thanks for the fun interview!

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  16. Liz, not sappy at all! I LOVE LOVE LOVE ADAM LAMBERT! I saw him on tour last summer. What a fabulous live performer - singing and dancing at teh same time, no juicing the sound with AutoTune. Artists young and old could take a lesson.

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  17. Hi Tamara!
    Now I understand why my sister would scream at me, "STOP BREATHING!"
    I think I've plotted a young adult para to Shinedown's The Sound of Madness cd. I also think I love all music -- even country. I wish you so much success with Taste Me.

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  18. Hi Amy! I'm laughing here about the breathing thing because not too long ago I asked Mark if he could please blow his nose because I could hear a booger. ;-)

    Shinedown has a set on iTunes called "iTunes Sessions" which is not quite acoustic, but live, heavy on the piano, and really stripped down. Absolutely gorgeous.

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  19. Tammy, I've been indisposed and I'm just not checking in on you. Wonderful excerpt, loaded with ST and great writing, but then I've been a fan of yours forever. Gum smacking, I detest it also. Reminds me of a herd of cows. Music, the only way I can listen while writing is instrumentals. I hang on to words. Thank you for blogging with GLIAS. Your series sounds sensational.

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