Special Promo Monday: Intolerance Paralleled in Paranormal Fiction by Kiki Howell

This week we're going for something different. Instead of just the standard promo stuff, Kiki wants to talk about intolerance within the paranormal. This should be quite interesting, so take it away, Kiki!!

In the real world, intolerance is something that really bothers me, gets under my skin and gets me standing on my soap box as my mother says… no matter who it is aimed at. I’m more of a quiet person though, not one to just offer my opinions unless I know you really well – hence my poor mother. LOL Yet, as a writer, I get to mouth off about the injustices I see in the world in my fictional writing from time to time. Writing is therapy, right? So I watch the news, and sometimes I just have to write.
In my At War in the Willows series, I got a whole paranormal world involved in mouthing off about intolerance! In the small resort town of The Willows, vampires, witches and werewolves live together peacefully in public, but are forbidden to relate in private. The humans remain gloriously unaware - well for the most part ;) In each book in the series I pair together two different paranormal creatures, have them fall in love, and thus a war breaks out and escalates through each of the stories in the town. Some from each clan (witch, vampire and werewolf) want things to stay as they are, fears from the unknowns of them “getting together” bring about prejudices that must be fought by those who wish to be together. Much more complicated than in the real world where just skin color or beliefs or whatever divide people.
In the Willows, in order for prejudices to form and fights to break out, I made a list of the strengths and weakness that are typical for each of my creatures. I had to examine how say vampire and werewolf
could relate, how they could fight, how they could stand on either side of the issues of being together, etc. I actually didn’t have to stray very far from the usual myths in order to make it all work. Fights in the
real world among humans are built on much less, I can tell you that. The politics of the whole story fell in line easily, very closely related to prejudices and politics today in our own world where man fights man.
I guess my biggest thing though was to show that there were inherent dangers with the creatures being together (you know, the paranormal worlds always amp up any problem) but that with love, with understanding, with compassion, that the initial problems could be overcome - that it was really opening people’s minds that mattered. I believe that in the real world as well. I'm a champion of the underdog, and in this trilogy, that will probably be pretty evident. What I ended up with were three very intense stories, ones that linger in dark, mystical worlds, just the way I like my fiction, and have an underlying moral fiber along with battles and romance.

Watch the Book Trailer Video on YouTube!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5xx99QKBqg&feature=plcp

At War in the Willows Series Blurb:
The Willows is a resort town run by vampires, werewolves and witches. Here, their true identities are kept secret from humans, and intimate relations between the individual clans are strictly forbidden. When it becomes known that the vampire Amberlyn has fallen in love with the werewolf Kane, the tedious line of their co-existence has been crossed. Caught in the crossfire of this revelation, Drake, the vampire
clan leader and Amberlyn’s maker, is killed along with an innocent witch. These deaths spark a series of horrific events leading to an all out War In The Willows.

In Book 1, Amberlyn’s vampire brother, Isaac, always one to kick ass first and deal with the consequences later, kidnaps a witch, Winter. He intends to find out what type of retaliation the witch clan is planning
against the vampires and werewolves. In doing so, he finds so much more than he bargained for.

By Book 2, Isaac and Winter devise a plan to try to get the Elders of the clans talking peacefully. But, things don't go as they'd hoped, and the fighting between the clans becomes more devious - deadly.
Now, Devin, another Vampire of Drake's making, steps in to help pick up some of the pieces as his sister, Amberlyn, fights to be with the werewolf, Kane.

When Book 3 begins, it is Devin who hides the biggest secret; he’s in love with a local human. In a moment of desperation – of love – Devin sweeps this human, Sara, away to his home in order to keep her out of harm’s way.

Unexpected close encounters, bodies ripe with need, and situations beyond their control lead to forbidden relationships. Now three vampires, a witch, a werewolf and a human must ride along the edges of the rules. They will attempt once unthinkable romantic entanglements despite all those who oppose their relationships while fighting for their lives as well.
With the Willows full of violence and bloodshed, meetings and magic amiss, will the clans ever be able to find peace among them again? Or, will this war destroy the Willows?

Genres: Erotic, Paranormal (Vampire, Witch, Werewolf) Romance

Book I, The Vampire's Witch - Available Now at Amazon, NNP
Store and All Romance eBooks
Book II, The Vampire's Wolf - Available Now at Amazon, NNP
Store and All Romance eBooksBook III, The Vampire's Human - Coming Fall 2012

Reviews for Book I, The Vampire's Witch
“This is the first adult book I've read by Kiki Howell. And it was delicious! Good plot, great
characters and sexy enough to raise the temperature in my house about 20 degrees... It's a very
fast read, only about 50 pages. But it's a real page turner!” ~4/5 Stars by Lilac Wolf

“Ms Howell weaves a spell binding web that ensnares the mind and lets the reader drift away in to another world. I highly look forward to the next two books in this series!” ~4/5 Stars by Phoenix Johnson (That's right, you should have read this one here, first!!)

Thank you, Kiki, fantastic post that I completely agree with. I look forward to getting around to The Vampire's Wolf, and The Vampire's Human when that releases!