Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs: Interview

1)      What would you do if your human child was replaced?

Not stop looking for them until my child was back and whoever took my baby was six feet under or behind bars.  Preferably the first—my husband’s family called me Mama Badger and they weren’t kidding.

2)      Which character are you most like in the novel?

Probably Leslie and I share the most similar personality.

3)      What was your favorite scene to write?

The climax scenes are my favorite—not always the easiest, but my favorite.  I love watching everything I’ve woven through the story come together.

4)      How did you come up with the names for the characters in your books?

I did a lot of research on the Navajo names—both in historic documents and in current sources.  There is a very kind (to writers) man who does You Tube videos (daybreakwarrior) on the Navajo culture and a number of websites about Navajo names.  Hosteen is an old spelling (or more probably incorrect) spelling of Hostiin—which is the equivalent of “Mr.”  Hosteen, presumably, once had a different name. But he went out into the world a hundred years before our story and worked in the film industry with was, especially then, not really culturally sensitive.

Other character names . . . well mostly I try to find names that are not unusual for a person who comes from their background.  Also names I have not used a hundred times before—and also don’t all start with the same letter.  I had to go back and change several names when I went back to edit Dead Heat because I found that all of the little girls had names that were a type of gemstone: Amber, Sapphire, Amethyst . . . Something I must have done subconsciously.

5)      If you got a horse for your birthday, what would you name it and what type of horse would you like?

Haha.  I have nineteen horses right now.  No more birthday presents needed!  They are mostly Arabians.   The newest one, born on Valentines Day, is pretty close to my birthday, though.  The filly’s mom is Psylk Obsession (Psylk is pronounced Silk, the silent P a legacy of a famous stallion called Padron Psyche) and her sire is Ever After NA.  So we took the fairytale theme of her sire’s name and the Psy-sounds like S of her dam and came up with Psynderella.  We’ll see if it fits her and make it official in a month or two.

6)      Are there any books you are currently working on?

Yes.  I’ve always got a new book up my sleeve.  I’m working on the next Mercy Thompson book, Fire Touched, which will be released in 2016.    Thank you for letting me drop by!

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