Paranormal Wastelands: Peter Moore stops by the Wastelands

Greta: Today we at the Wastelands are sitting down with big famous author Peter Moore and his book "RED MOON RISING". Well, I guess were aren't sitting down with his book... we're actualy discussing his book. It would kinda be weird if his book talked back to us.

Darkfallen: GRETA!! You're rambling!!

Greta: Oh yeah... Anywho... Here we go!

Hello Peter and Welcome to the Wastelands!!

We'd like to welcome you with a great big HOWLLLLLLLLLLLL-O!!!
Same to you. Fangs for having me.

We have to admit after reading so many girl werewolf books out there we were starting to get a bit mad because SNIKEYS!! can they be any more "OH ! MY NAILS!" and "EEK! I'm going to go all pack on you!" and "HEY! Look at my bitchin' tail!" hahahs!
Um, yeah. Uh-huh.

We know!! Dreadful, right?!!!

But it was soooooo refreshing to read a book where the werewolves stand on two legs... LIKE A REAL WEREWOLF!! We mondo appreciate that you are most awesome for introducing the tweeny boppers in to real were-wolfdom!! NICE NICE!
I appreciate your appreciation. I've thought werewolves were cool since I was barely more than a pup, and I figured that if I was going to write a book that dealt with werewolves, I was going to write one that I would like to read, with the werewolves written to be interesting.

THAT! Is most awesome!!

So, while we have you here we'd like to ask you a coooouple questions. Is that cool with you?

Absolutely.

Most Excellent!

When you set out to write "RED MOON RISING" did the TAY TAY ever cross your mind? Like did you see that big hunk of man-boy meat (muhahahahahas) and think like our husbands "OMG! This is so wrong!" and set out to set the tweeny boppers straight or did you just write your own thing hoping that Tay Tay might sign onto the movie rights?
Well, to be honest, the Tay Tay was not on my mind at all. And -- no offense to him -- he's seldom on my mind. Nope. I didn't think of any actors in particular. If they make a movie -- and there's no claws in my contract saying anyone is obligated to make it -- I would probably have no say in who got cast.

How do you feel about the cover? If I remember correctly Danny wears a leather coat and on the cover he has a cool ass hoodie on that makes me think of Little Red Riding Hood. Did you have any say in that? Or was it just something to tempt the ladies cuz we all know how gullible we are around mysterious strangers. hahas! Especially Darkfallen!!
Well, I can't say we were going for the Little Red Riding Hood look. Yes, he wears a leather jacket in the book (until Gunther ruins it with his spraypaint) but the cover image ended up being a hoodie. I'm fine with that because I don't like when the cover of a book has a literal type of image that suggests what a character looks like. I've found that a lot of kids believe that whatever is on the cover is meant to be a direct representation of stuff from inside the book. I wrote the book long before the cover was designed. I did have some say in the picture, but in the end, the final decision typically belongs to the publisher. By the way, the paperback will be coming out with a totally different cover.
We find it fascinating how the wolf gene was 'done away with' in the Gray household. That was most awesome!! How did you come up with that idea?
Part of the fun of writing this book was imagining all the details of daily life in this world. So if people have wulf genes and wulves are the lowest rung of the social ladder, and wulves have to go through all that misery every month when they Change, it made sense that someone somewhere would work on a way to prevent that from happening. A vamp like Mom, as is made pretty clear, would not want her children to have the stigma and all that goes with life as a wulf. She's the exact type of person that would turn to medical treatments to eliminate wulf traits. And the other reason for this is that I wanted to make sure that Danny was different from everyone else in his family and felt like an outsider in his own home.

You seem to be showing a kinda civil rights/segregation sort of thing between the wolves and the vamps. Do you feel that your young readers will be able to grasp this?
I've found that pretty much everyone who read the book has gotten the civil rights/racism/holocaust references. My aim here was to give the reader a story that could be take on whichever level the reader chooses. It can be a simple and straight-ahead high school werewolf/vampire story. Or you can look for the metaphors and find that there's some major stuff underlying the story. Your choice.

We feel that more and more YA writers are writing books more targeted to their age group and not the teeny boppers. Greta will be the first to admit that this drives her insane!! Seriously, she rants about it all the time ;) But after reading your book she had a renewed hope that SOMEBODY OUT THERE was trying to connect to the kids. Did you have any kids beta-read "RED MOON RISING" so you could better connect with what was going on in the teenage wasteland?
Well, my son (who has now gone off to college) was a key player in the development of the book. He's a tough critic and didn't let me get away with stuff that wasn't interesting and real. Aside from him, I have a fair amount of contact with the denizens of the teenage wasteland, as you put it: I'm also a high school teacher.

WOW!! That is super cool!!!

Finally.... WILL YOU BE WRITING A SEQUEL!?!?! Please say yes! Please say yes! Please say yes!!
I have the storylines set up for the next two books. There is one way and one way only that there will be a sequel: if this book sells well, then Hyperion will want to publish more. If it doesn't sell well, well, they wouldn't be very good at business if they invested more dough in a non-seller. So the point is, spread the word. If you like the book, let other people know. (But don't let them read your copy! That doesn't help sell books.)

You hear that WASTELANDERS?!! GO buy Peter's book NOW!!! Chop chop!

The good news is that I'm midway through another book that Hyperion has bought. No vamps, no wulves, but there is a paranormal/fantasy element to it. I'm not going to say more about that quite yet, but my guess is that most people who like RMR will like Confession of a Teenage Villain.

Squee Diddles!! That is most awesome!!!

Thank you so much Peter for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to us. We hope you have a most awesome Halloween!!!!!
My pleasure. Once again, fangs for having me. Howl I ever repay you?

Oh, we're sure we can think of something involving leather, fur, and fangs ;) Muhahahahs!!

Ummmm what about Red Moon Rising T-shirts? I know it's not leather, but would that help?

Seriously?! Yes YES that would be most awesome!!!

That's right! Not one, but THREE lucky winners will get their very own Red Moon Rising t-shirt! All you have to do is fill out the Rafflecopter form below, and make sure when you leave your address you also leave the size you want. (M, L, XL)