Hunted

Where to buy Hunted books online?

Product Description

Amazon.com Review
Book Description
What if the hottest guy in the world was hiding a nameless evil and all he wanted was you?

At the start of this heart-pounding new installment of the bestselling House of Night series, Zoey’s friends have her back again and Stevie Rae and the red fledglings aren’t Neferet’s secrets any longer.  But an unexpected danger has emerged. Neferet guards her powerful new consort, Kalona, and no one at the House of Night seems to know the threat he poses.  Kalona looks gorgeous, and he has the House of Night under his spell. A past life holds the key to breaking his rapidly spreading influence, but what if this past life shows Zoey secrets she doesn’t want to hear and truths she can’t face?

On the run and holed up in Tulsa’s Prohibition-era tunnels, Zoey and her gang must learn a way to deal with something that might bring them all down.  Meanwhile, Zoey has a few additional small problems.  The red fledglings have cleaned up well–they’ve even managed to make the dark, creepy tunnels feel more like home–but are they really as friendly as they seem?  On the boyfriend front, Zoey has a chance to make things right with super-hot ex-, Eric, but she can’t stop thinking about Stark, the archer who died in her arms after one unforgettable night, and she is driven to try to save him from Neferet’s sinister influence at all costs.  Will anyone judge the power evil has to hide among us?

An Interview with P.C. Cast

Amazon.com: Why vampyres? What was intriguing to you about them? (Also, why “y”?)

P.C. Cast: Really, the thought for the series originated with my fabulous agent, Meredith Bernstein. We were at RWA [Romance Writers of America] Nationals in Reno several years ago and Meredith said she had an thought for a series she’d like to see me write. Then she said the three magic words: vampire finishing school. I straight away thought of YA because I’d been reading the Hawksong books by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes–so my head was already in YA. Also, I’ve been teaching high school English since 1993 (I’m from a family tree of teachers) so I certainly knew my audience. Basically, it sounded like fun to write, so I jumped in even though I’d only written fantasy and paranormal romance up until then.

Oh, and the spelling is just my choice ’cause I like the way it looks!

Amazon.com: I don’t want to draw too many comparisons between your series and Twilight, because they are completely different types of tales. But, I am curious if the popularity of that series has changed the way you see your genre, or do you even see it being the same genre?

PC: I see my genre as YA, and to me that encompasses everyone from Rowling to Laurie Halse Anderson to Janice Erlbaum. So, yes, Twilight fits in the same genre. And while I delight in Ms. Meyer’s books very much, I reflect the genre has been growing and changing and gaining popularity steadily over the past decade–mostly thanks to Ms. Rowling! As a high school English teacher I certainly noticed the increase in sophistication and popularity of the genre some time ago. Today’s YA has an incredible range and depth, and it deals with real coming of age issues in varied and appealing ways. I’m proud to be a member of the ranks of YA authors!

Amazon.com: Can you talk a small bit about the role that religion plays in the novels? The whole series revolves around the worship of Nyx, the Goddess of Night, and Hunted really digs into questions of faith and free will (regularly related to what guy Zoey will be drawn to next…very clever to make that her weakness!). At various points in the series you also have People of Faith, Catholic nuns, and Cherokee legend. How do you see all these fundamentals effective together?

PC: Very clever of you to admit the ramifications of Zoey’s weakness!

It’s simple for me to weave the different religious fundamentals of the world together because it’s not really “religion” I’m dealing with when I make the conflicts and faith foundations in the House of Night. As a replacement for I see it as a way to illuminate coming of age issues, which regularly deal with conformity and obsession and trying to learn boundaries. I chose to give my heroine a belief system in which to live that is matriarchal because my purpose is to empower young women, and by allowing Zoey to join a world where women are valued as leaders and really have no glass ceiling, except the ones they make for themselves, as exemplified by Neferet, I have a springboard for a lot of girl power.

Amazon.com: What were some of your influences for the House of Night school?

PC: South Intermediate High School in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma! I just looked around me and wrote what I saw. I also write what I wish I could see, as in the incredible HoN facility and their very cool classes. I’d like to teach a Vampyre Sociology class!

Amazon.com: How has Kristin being in school affected the series as it’s progressed? The scenes with friends hanging out and geeking out on movies in the dorm seem pretty familiar…

PC: When the series ongoing Kristin was nineteen and was still living at home her first semester in college. And then when she did go out it certainly wasn’t into a dorm that looked as cool as the House of Night dorms! But she does DEFINITELY geek out with her friends. (She’s going to kill me for that…)

Amazon.com: When did the two of you choose to write a book together? How does your writing process work?

PC: I brought Kristin in while I was writing the first three chapters of Marked. I kept stumbling over silly small things, like point slang that I thought I knew, but establish out once I ongoing writing about teenagers that MY deeply buried inner teen from the 70’s kept trying to resurface and butt in with her slang! Kristin keeps me straight about that. She also says she keeps Zoey from “sounding like a 40-something disgruntled school teacher.” Sigh.

We’re on book six of the series, and we have the process down. We do some brainstorming, then I write the first draft, regularly asking Kristin questions right in the manuscript or leaving blanks for her to fill in. Then I send the entire thing to her, and she goes through it, answering questions, filling in blanks, and asking me questions/building comments of her own. She sends it back to me and I go through it again. Then it’s ready to go to St. Martin’s and our lovely editor, Jennifer Weis. It sounds like a tedious process, but it’s really very freeing for me. I can write whatever and know Kristin has my back.

Amazon.com: Zoey has a few mother-daughter-like relationships–with her mom, her grandma, Neferet, Nyx. How much does your mother-daughter relationship inform your writing? Is it ever awkward?

PC: Hmm…that’s a excellent question. Kristin and I have a unique writing relationship. Really, I probably wouldn’t even consider writing with anyone else–it’s unusually simple with my daughter (perhaps because I can beat her?). She and I have permanently been close, and we have a very honest relationship. Talking with each additional has never been a problem, so we’re used to communicating. That helps a lot in a co-leader situation.

Regarding the mother-daughter relationships in the book: clearly Zoey’s relationship with her own mom is nothing like Kristin and mine. Sadly, both of us have met many Linda Heffers here in Oklahoma, which is why she is so simple–and disturbing–for us to write. When I write Nyx’s words I regularly reflect about how I feel about Kristin, and then try to expand that to how this goddess would view the vampyres, especially Zoey, as her children.

We get the awkward question regularly because of the sexual tension in the books. Kristin and I do chat about the temperature of the books and the point situations a lot. It doesn’t feel awkward between us because we’re used to communicating, and because we don’t just stick sex in our series to be gratuitous. The sexual issues are there because they’re realistic to teenagers. Yes, Zoey has several boyfriends–regularly at the same time. But in six books she has had sex once, and that was because she was manipulated and used by a charismatic adult. It wasn’t awkward writing persons parts with my daughter–we judge in the reality of the books and the points we make about mistakes and consequences.

Amazon.com: Each of the books sort of has its own personality. Chosen, for example, was more all ears on the friends and the guys, and Untamed was much more deeply all ears on folklore and goddess rituals. Do you reflect that’s influenced by each of your interests, with Kristin having more influence on one book and P.C. showing up more in another? Or is that just the natural arc of the tale?

PC: I reflect the shifting emphasis is because of the natural arc of the tale. Reflect about your own life. Doesn’t your focus shift from time to time? I know mine does. Really, sometimes it feels like events take place in waves: lots of guy, no guys, friend stres, no friend stress, crazy stuff at school, kinda cool school, etc. So I guess fiction is just mimicking the patterns I see in life.

Amazon.com: Even though it has a satisfying ending (no spoilers!) Hunted certainly doesn’t seem like the end of Zoey’s tale. What’s next?

PC: Zoey has to save the world! And it’s certainly a huge job. Seriously, now that the dark influences that have been lurking on the periphery of Zoey’s world have been brought out into the open, it’s time to deal with them. Of course that’s a lot harder than “Okay, Z, kick their butts and save the world now!” sounds. Especially as there are many layers to the House of Night world and regularly excellent appears terrible, and terrible seems terribly attractive.

---

Buy Cheap Hunted Online

Related posts:

1. Hunted Down: the detective stories of Charles Dickens