A Perfect Blood (Hollows Series #10)

New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison was born and raised in the upper Midwest. Her bestselling Hollows novels include Dead Witch Walking; The Good, the Bad, and the Undead; Every Which Way But Dead; A Fistful of Charms; For a Few Demons More; The Outlaw Demon Wails; White Witch, Black Curse; Black Magic Sanction; Pale Demon; A Perfect Blood; Ever After; and The Undead Pool, plus the short-story collection Into the Woods, The Hollows Insider, and the graphic novels Blood Work and Blood Crime. She also writes the Madison Avery series for young adults.

Biography

Bestselling paranormal fantasy author Kim Harrison went all the way through school with nary a thought of becoming a writer. A biology major in college, she took only the required English courses needed to graduate. So when the writing bug hit her later in life, she found herself at a real disadvantage with grammar, spelling, and other basic weapons in the scribbler's arsenal. However, her love of books was her saving grace. Always a voracious reader, Harrison instinctively recognized the role of plot, pacing, and character development in good storytelling. She set about writing with great enthusiasm and plugged away for the better part of decade, until she was able to bring her skills up to par.

Harrison's debut novel grew out of frustration with a growing pile of rejection notices. In an attempt to get publishers' attention, she set out to craft something deliberately weird and edgy. She conceived a motley cast of vampires, werewolves, pixies, and witches, including a sexy bounty hunter named Rachel Morgan, and threw them together in a short story. Then, her agent introduced her to editor Diana Gill, and together they refined and expanded Harrison's idea into a full length novel.

Published in 2004, Dead Witch Walking became a bestseller, launched a blockbuster series, and catapulted Harrison into a pantheon of paranormal superstars that includes Laurell K. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, Christine Feehan, and Sherrilyn Kenyon. As if to validate her inclusion in these ranks, Harrison's stories have also been included in several bestselling paranormal collections.

Good To Know

Harrison claims that her muse exists in music. In our exclusive interview, she explained, "Music moves society more than most people realize. In my opinion, it's a soft manipulator of influence and change. I love the power of the musician who composes and performs. I envy their ability to put a nugget of truth in three minutes of sweat and emotional outpouring, colored entirely from their thoughts. And I'll admit that if I can, I'll steal that nugget of truth, study it, facet it, polish it, and place it in my writing."

On her MySpace page, Kim lists the following as her heroes: "My parents. Anyone who pursues their dreams when no one believes they can reach them. Single moms and dads."

Rachel Morgan and her otherworldly cohorts exist in and around an alternate version of Cincinnati, Ohio -- a "little big city" Harrison was familiar with from her Midwestern youth. She always tries to incorporate "Cincy" sights into her series novels, so readers are likely to find allusions to Eden Park, the Cincinnati Zoo, and other local neighborhoods and landmarks.

As a tribute to one of her favorite actor/directors, Harrison has given some of her Rachel Morgan novels titles that play on well-known Clint Eastwood films: For a Few Demons More, Every Which Way but Dead, The Outlaw Demon Wails, etc.