VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR [Interview] With Friends Like These by L. Hunter Cassells

With Friends Like These 
by L. Hunter Cassells
Publisher: Amazon (November 24, 2012)
Category: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal
Tour Date: November, 2013
Available in: ebook,  107 Pages

Callie Walking is a freelance mage who solves supernatural problems. When a troubled client hires her to protect him from a "vampire", she casts the appropriate spells and positions the usual amulets. Now, something has gone terribly wrong. Her client has turned up dead and drained of all his blood. The cops say it's suicide, but Callie knows better.

Now she is on a mission to find out what went wrong. In her search she uncovers an ancient, long-hidden power. It challenges Callie's deepest beliefs about right and wrong, good and evil. She knows her life will be forever changed... if she survives.

Praise for With Friends Like These:

"I really enjoyed the characters, their histories and especially their interactions. There was nothing trite or old hat. It was surprisingly "new hat."
I recommend it to anyone who loves vampires and even to those who don't usual like vampires. It shows that there is always a refreshing new way to look at seemingly settled concepts. Now, I am just waiting to read the next book. These characters have not come even close to exhaust the possibilities inherent in their personalities."- Skeptic, Amazon Reviewer

"Best book I have read in years!  I am a avid reader, but never read vampire books of any kind. What a surprise was waiting for me. This book is wonderful, and a written with great wit. I laughed out loud. The suspense kept me turning pages until I had read the whole book in one day. Now I am yearning for another book about "Miss Callie". I would enjoy reading more from a truly gifted author. This should be a national best seller."- Earle Drake, Amazon Reviewer

"Lots of fun! It's great to see Cassells' writing in a more modern setting, and her characters are as engaging as ever. One of my favorite things about her stories (past her artful descriptions) is the depth and accessibility of her characters. I was impressed that even in a short like this she was able to smoothly set up a world with lots of potential for back-story and new plots - I hope she uses it!  Would recommend to a friend (did already)."-AJCB, Amazon Reviewer

Do you like the spotlight or lurking in the shadows?

Ooh, lurking in the shadows. In case of something I can pontificate about, I can cheerfully speak publicly, but for the most part, I’d rather hide.

How many books are in your TRB pile?

Fourteen/14.  No, I made that up; I could as easily say, “All of them!”

What is next on your to read list?

Soil and Soul, by Alastair McIntosh.  The idea that I think, not with my brain but with the whole world, is enchanting.

What one item would you eat for the rest of your life?

Watermelon.  Dripping, delicately crispy, sweet – above all, fresh and alive.

What is the last thing you bought?

Parsley – fresh parsley. Coincidentally, it’s also the first thing I bought: I was four, and Grandpa gave me a dime and took me to a farmer’s market, where I found bunches of “trees” – I loved to eat the “trees” from my parents’ dinners at restaurants. I still remember having to insist that the parsley was what I wanted – Grandpa didn’t believe me -- and the delight with which I carried it home.

Pet Peeves?

Blatantly Earthly/Terran names like “John” and “Elizabeth” for characters in fantasy worlds. The rationale is “but I want to show that they are ‘ordinary’ people!” That can be done with generically plain names like “Jon” or “Mini”, or thing-names like “Stony” or “Rose”. But when I meet a character named “Henry”, I expect him to carry a cell phone and know what “Golden Arches” signify – i.e., I expect him to be from this world, and to have a jolly good explanation for what brought him to the fantasy world. 

Pizza or Pasta?

Neither, now, but back in the day it would have been pizza.

What is something people would be surprised to know about you?

That I’m not really an atheist. True, once I told you about my idea of God, you might still call me an atheist, but it’s not how I see it.

If you had 24 hours alone how would you spend it?

Literally. I mean, either writing or, in the face of a block, reading.  “I am one of those tormented Gutenberg souls who live words the way anglers live fish, hockey players live goals, archaeologists live ruins. I will read novels, plays, newspapers, telephone books. And, in my deprivation, I write in order to have something to read.” I wish I could remember where I learned that; an online search has yielded nothing. Bob Somebodyorother.

If you could meet one person who has died who would you choose?

One of my great-grandfathers:  he was rather a mad inventor, and a complete nutball from the stories I’ve heard. Having one of the first-ever cars, he made himself a garage-door opener-and-closer; he also cut his pipe in half to insert a bit of rubber, as a shock absorber so the pipe wouldn’t bang his teeth as he drove over rutted roads.

What do you do in your free time? 

Truly free time is rare, but I do like to sketch, pencil on paper, and I almost majored in art, long ago.

Can you share a little about the current title you are working on? 

Am I justified in killing a few people in the process of “curing” death for everyone – well, everyone but the ones I killed? Does an ancient vampire have the right to say no to that – does he even deserve an opinion?

Can you prevent him from having an opinion – and acting on it?

L. Hunter Cassells grew up near the Germantown of which she writes, and now lives not far away, in a curious household involving a happy man, two ambiguous cats, two loud grandsons, their studious moms, and what might be a dozen chickens (chickens come, chickens go; best not to ask too many questions).  She has seen more than twenty thousand days and nights, holds a degree in geology, occasionally goes contra dancing, has belonged to the Society for Creative Anachronism longer than most of its members have been alive, and herds nuclear physicists for a living (no, really, she does).

L. Hunter Cassells Website