Talking ‘Hunted’ with Kevin Hearne

June 25, 2013 at 12:04 am | Posted in Books, Fantasy, Interview | 1 Comment
Tags: hunted, iron druid chronicles, kevin hearne

Hunted the sixth book in the Iron Druid Chronicles series is out today, so we managed to borrow author Kevin Hearne for a bit to get a few questions answered (without getting too spoilerish).

One of my favorite parts of Hunted was when Oberon brought up the movie Predator. I loved that scene as Predator is one of my favorite movies. What inspired you to bring up that movie reference?

Kevin Hearne: It just fit thematically with this book. The soldiers in Predator are being hunted, and their responses to being prey vary. Oberon, who’s used to being the predator himself, at some point cannot continue to run and behave like prey, so he made that connection himself.

In Hunted you unveiled a new villain called a lifeleech. Was that something you came up with or was there some kind of precedent for it?

KH: Oh, I think there’s plenty of precedent. The idea of a life-draining monster isn’t new in fantasy. However, I think life drain has often been associated with necromancy, so I’d like to think my twist on it involving alchemy and the search for the Philospher’s Stone is maybe new-ish?

Last but not least, what is it with Leif the vampire and his aversion for talking about vampire anatomy?

KH: Honestly, that running gag throughout the series is just me poking fun at the idea of vampires in general. How do you metabolize blood—or a cheeseburger or anything at all—if you’re dead and don’t have a functioning digestive system? You can try to explain it away and say that vampires are actually feeding on life force instead of blood or blah blah unicorns are magic, but there’s bound to be waste, right, so how does a vampire eliminate waste? We always hear about how cold they are, presumably because they don’t have a functioning circulatory system anymore. Without a functioning set of glands and circulatory system, how would the erectile tissue in males ever allow them to have sex? Female vampires would have a different set of problems to face if they wanted to experience the sins of the (dead) flesh, but let’s leave that as an exercise for the class. In truth, the reason Leif doesn’t answer those questions about vampire biology is that he can’t. No one can. And I think it’s funny.

Bonus Question: Can you give readers any hints about what’s coming next in the Iron Druid Chronicles?

KH: Book 7 will be called Shattered and I’m just about finished with it. That should come out sometime next year. Books 8 and 9 will also begin with the letter S…but that’s all the hints I can give right now. I don’t want to spoil anything. :)

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We thank Kevin for taking the time to answer our questions. If you haven’t ordered your copy of Hunted yet, you can check out Random House Books product page for links to the paperback, digital and audiobook versions. You can also find more information about Kevin and the Iron Druid Chronicles on his official website kevinhearne.com.

Posted By: Skuldren for Roqoo Depot.