Rie McGaha was born and raised in northern California along the shores of Humboldt County where her grandmother often took her to search for seashells and watch the humpback whales migration. Though her father was a bit of a gypsy and moved his family all over, Rie always enjoyed the trips back to Eureka, California where many of her twelve children and twenty-three grandchildren still live.
As a dreamer of dreams and being born with a gypsy soul, Rie has lived all over the United States. Settling in Oklahoma with husband, Nathan, she enjoys a quiet life in the Kiamichi Wilderness where she takes in abused and neglected animals, nurses them back to health and tries to find them new homes. The ones that don’t find new homes remain with Rie and she currently has eighteen dogs and one cat.
Between her husband, children, grandchildren, and all of the animals, Rie tries to find a few moments to write. She is currently working on Ancient Blood, the sequel to Blood Line, and Caleb and Arion the second and third installments of the My Soul to Keep Trilogy. She also writes reviews for Romance Writers United.
Rie will be on virtual book tour in May ’09 to promote her latest paranormal romance novel, Blood Line. We interviewed her to find out more about her wonderful new book.
Q: Thank you for this interview, Rie. Can we begin by having you tell us why you chose to write paranormal romance?
A: Like most little girls, I loved the stories of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, and I grew up being a romantic day dreamer. I also believe there are things in this world that have no earthly explanation, so I decided to combine them all and write paranormal romances that I call Bedtime Stories for Big Girls!
Q: Did you outline before you wrote your book or did you just go with the flow?
A: It depends on where I am. I never know when a story line is going to smack me upside the head! If I’m not in front of my computer, I’ll grab a pen and whatever I can write on and make notes. Other times, like if it’s the middle of the night, I’ll get up and write a synopsis.
Q: Who was your favorite character in Calen and why?
A: Ganda is my favorite character. She’s old, wise, and content with her life. I based her on an older version of myself ... lol!
Q: Who was your least favorite character?
A: There’s quite a few to choose from in Blood Line, but Hodge is the worst of them. He’s slimey and made me feel as if I needed a shower after every scene I wrote with him in it!
Q: Can you tell us about the setting and why you chose it?
A: Blood Line is set in Oklahoma and that’s my home. But the story goes to the swamps of Louisiana, and then to Romania where the werewolf legend began. When I write I can go anywhere in the world I want to, and that’s awesome!
Q: What was the hardest part to write?
A: The scenes with Hodge. It’s very difficult for me to write about someone being killed or tortured, even if it is by a werewolf.
Q. What was the inspiration behind the story? Where were you when you came up with the idea?
A: My husband is a huge sci-fi fan and a truck driver and one night he had a dream he was attacked by a werewolf. When he told me about the dream I laughed so hard. I mean, he’s a grown man, but he has some of the strangest dreams! But as I got to thinking about it, I said, hey, this would make a great book, so I ran with it!
