More March Madness - Interview and giveaway

Today I'm over at Elise Rome's site as part of her March Madness Blog Party. There are prizes galore, so check out the March Madness rules first, then hop over to my author interview and answer the reader question for a chance to win an ebook copy of The Fallen Queen. There's also an extra treat for those who haven't read the book yet, of an Anazakia/Vasily excerpt for your reading pleasure. And here' a little snaphot of Anazakia and Vasily to go along with it:

Happy Birthday, Anazakia!

Today is the Grand Duchess Anazakia Helisonovna Arkhangel'skova's birthday. I'm not saying how old she is, because angels age differently and that's her business. But if The Fallen Queen were made into a movie, here's who I'd pick to play her:

In honor of Anazakia's birthday, check out my interview today on Supernatural Snark.

And get a present for yourself while you're at it:

Enter to win an ebook of The Fallen Queen at The Qwillery (contest ends tomorrow!)

Enter my giveaway along with dozens of others in the Mistletoe Blog Hop (grand prize is a Color Nook!)

Enter the December Will Be Magic Again giveaway at Here Be Magic (grand prize is a Kindle Fire!)

Enter to win a signed ARC of The Fallen Queen at Literary Escapism (and be sure to enter their other Black Friday giveaways!)

Look out for falling angels!

There were many times I thought this day would never come. (Frankly, I'm not quite sure it's here; I think I'm writing this in my sleep.) The trilogy I thought was a single book when the idea first germinated in my head in late 2005 (and continued to mistakenly believe until early 2009 when I finally decided it was time to get the thing written), and which dragged me all the way to Russia and turned me into a raging Russophile, was officially released today with The Fallen Queen, Book One of The House of Arkhangel'sk. My little angel Anazakia and her demon cohorts Belphagor and Vasily have finally fallen to the world of Man.

You can find out more about them and how they came to be (and what they put me through) on The Fallen Queen Blog Tour, continuing with my guest post, "The Trouble With Angels," on The Book Faery Reviews today.

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"Kindred’s tale is a romantic, mature, and lyrical collage of heaven, hell, and a magical royal legend. The combination is divinely—and demonically—inspired.”

—Alethea Kontis, New York Times bestselling author of Enchanted

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“A labyrinth of wonder, intrigue and treachery. High fantasy as sharp as a dagger.”

—Mario Acevedo, author of Werewolf Smackdown

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“Jane Kindred’s The Fallen Queen dazzles with its surreal blending of worlds. Lost angel Anazakia, last survivor of her murdered family, finds herself in the hands of demons with suspect motives, betrayed by her own kind, stranded in the world of Man—21st century St. Petersburg, Russia, to be exact. Weaving startling visuals with compelling characters, Kindred reveals parallels in the two worlds that are ‘neither haphazard chance nor calculated design.’ It’s a dizzying, vibrant read.”

—Lynn Flewelling, author of The Bone Doll’s Twin and the Nightrunner series

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“Angels, demons, sex. Heaven, hell, war. Blood and royalty, history and magic, fire and ice. And a story you cannot put down. This is fantasy at its best.”

—Stephen Graham Jones, author of It Came From Del Rio

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Heaven can go to hell.

Until her cousin slaughtered the supernal family, Anazakia’s father ruled the Heavens, governing noble Host and Fallen peasants alike. Now Anazakia is the last grand duchess of the House of Arkhangel’sk, and all she wants is to stay alive.

Hunted by Seraph assassins, Anazakia flees Heaven with two Fallen thieves—fire demon Vasily and air demon Belphagor, each with their own nefarious agenda—who hide her in the world of Man. The line between vice and virtue soon blurs, and when Belphagor is imprisoned, the unexpected passion of Vasily warms her through the Russian winter.

Heaven seems a distant dream, but when Anazakia learns the truth behind the celestial coup, she will have to return to fight for the throne—even if it means saving the man who murdered everyone she loved.

Read an excerpt from The Fallen Queen

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Available now from Entangled Publishing!

The Fallen Queen is available now:

The Fallen Queen blog tour

In celebration of my December 6 release, between now and Anazakia's birthday on the Winter Solstice, I'll be dashing all over the Web talking about The House of Arkhangel'sk trilogy. There are several giveaways planned, along with a few interviews (including a rare character interview of Belphagor), so mark your calendars for a chance to comment and win or just to find out more about the The Fallen Queen. Check  Where's Jane? for the latest blog tour updates and other scheduled appearances.

Demons on the loose

Hang on to your hats, because Belphagor and Vasily will soon be at large in the world of Man. (And Anazakia, too...of course Anazakia; she's the star, but really...Belphagor and Vasily, can I hear a w00t??) Yes, I'm rambling. I'll try to be clear: My awesome agent, Sara Megibow, has just sold my House of Arkhangel'sk trilogy to Entangled Publishing. Look, it's even in Publisher's Marketplace and everything (click to see the whole thing):

Numfar, do the dance of joy!

Scenes from Arkhangel'sk

Researching the landscape and the layout of the city of Arkhangel'sk for my latest WIP, I came across this photo via Google Earth that just took my breath away:

This is actually near Mezen, but still in Arkhangel'sk Oblast, and perfectly fits the setting of the middle of The House of Arkhangel'sk. The photographer, Andrey Larin, has a number of photos up on Panoramio that are tagged to Google Maps, and I find myself browsing them for hours whenever I come across them. Googling "Arkhangelsk" in images rarely turns up much for some reason, but on Google Maps, there are a wealth of them.

Here are some others from Arkhangel'sk proper:

I love to imagine Anazakia and Vasily wandering here.

I've marked this post "Character inspiration" because Arkhangel'sk is as much a character as any angel or demon in my books. It's also one Russian setting I've used (along with the nearby Solovetsky islands) where I've never actually been. Clicking through Andrey's pictures makes me feel like I have. So, thanks, Andrey; hope you don't mind a little promotion.

Saturday evening post: Rusalki

Last summer while working on rewrites for The House of Arkhangel'sk, I briefly veered off onto a storyline where Anazakia meets a rusalka before I realized it had nothing to do with the story. I was sad about it, because I really liked my rusalka Lyudmila, but she had to go. Today Lyudmila surprised me by reappearing in the middle of The Palace of Wisdom. She has none of the sassy dialogue of her first appearance, but wow, does she do a number on Vasily's head.

If you aren't familiar with rusalki, here's what Wikipedia has to say about them:

According to most traditions, the rusalki were fish-women, who lived at the bottom of rivers. In the middle of the night, they would walk out to the bank and dance in meadows. If they saw handsome men, they would fascinate them with songs and dancing, mesmerize them, then lead the man away to the river floor to his death.

...associated with the "unclean force" [nechysta syla]... The ghostly version is the soul of a young woman who had died in or near a river or a lake and came to haunt that waterway. This undead rusalka is not invariably malevolent, and will be allowed to die in peace if her death is avenged.

Rusalki are known in other traditions as sirens, mermaids, and nymphs. Here are some of my favorite images of rusalki I found while surfing about:

Update: I should learn to do my research before hitting "post." And it should have been obvious to me that Viktor Nizovtsev's paintings were not in the public domain. D'oh. He's my age. :) So as lovely as those were, I had to remove them. (You can see my favorite, "Mermaid With Lanterns" on the Fox Hall Gallery website.) But I found another rusalka I adore:

In Slavic mythology, a rusalka (plural: rusalki or rusalky) was a female ghost, water nymph, succubus or mermaid-like demon that dwelled in a waterway.

According to most traditions, the rusalki were fish-women, who lived at the bottom of rivers. In the middle of the night, they would walk out to the bank and dance in meadows. If they saw handsome men, they would fascinate them with songs and dancing, mesmerize them, then lead the man away to the river floor to his death.