Harvester by Rachel Russel: Blog Tour Interview

As part of the Harvester Blog Tour I've had the pleasure of interviewing the wonderful Rachel Russel. Rachel Russell is published by Entranced Publishing.

Alex: What inspired you to write Harvester?

Rachel: A whole lot of little things added up to inspire HARVESTER. I have a complete obsession with Sidhe faeries and human magic-users. I started thinking about ways our world would be different if a secret mage civilization existed belowground. I also took inspiration from the lore of the Gaelic people and even Shakespear’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Really, it’s hard to pinpoint anything too much. My inspiration for books usually amounts to a melting pot full of various ideas, images, songs, drawings, and so on forth.

A: Catalina sounds like an interesting protagonist. Describe her in 5 words:

R: Headstrong, passionate, short-tempered, loyal, and compassionate.

A: Should we expect more books in the Harvester setting and story?

R: Maybe. I have a tentative idea for Book 2 and Book 3. I’m considering having Book 2 be told from Catalina’s best friend’s POV. Her name is Una and it’d pick up right where Book 1 left off. I don’t have any solid plans at the moment, though.

A: Describe your writing process, are you an architect or a pantser?

R: I’m an architect all the way, baby. My writing process involves me writing out a story outline, then breaking that down chapter-by-chapter, scene-by-scene. I fill out index cards for each scene and put them in order on a corkboard. Only once I have everything plotted out do I begin writing.

A: Tell us about your favourite writing space. Do you have/need a specific place or are you a kitchen table/coffee shop/subway/nightclub/situation room kind of writer?

R: My specific writing nook is basically anywhere in my house with my laptop. If I had to choose a most common writing area, it’d probably be my bedroom where it’s the quietest.

A: You work in the writing/books industry, can you tell us what you do?

R: I work as the Submissions Coordinator for Month9Books, and also as an Editorial Assistant. As the Submissions Coordinator, I handle sending out titles to submissions interns, gathering up their reader reports, compiling a weekly report of all submissions received for that week, and in general keeping house tidy with sending manuscripts along to the proper editor or filing folder. As an Editorial Assistant, I mainly just do copy edits, proofreading, and light formatting of manuscripts.

A: Has it helped or hindered your journey? How?

R: It has definitely helped. I see a ton of submissions on a weekly basis and know what’s trending, what publishers are looking for, and what editors are excited about or sick of.

A: What’s next for you as a writer?

R: I’m going to keep working on other novels and hopefully be ready to query literary agents with something new and awesome later this year.

A: What’s your favourite flavour of ice cream?

R: Triple chocolate. I’m a firm believer that chocolate ice cream must also have bits of chocolate brownie in it. It’s the one true way to eat ice cream.

A: If you could go back in time and tell yourself one thing, what would it be?

R: To take my time and realize that publishing isn’t a race. Everyone’s path to publication is different and that’s all right.

A: Thank you for doing this interview!

R: Thank you so much for having me on your blog, Alex!  

This blog tour runs from 17th March 2014 until 30th March 2014.

You can add Harvester to your to-read list on Goodreads.

You can find more about Harvester on the Entranced Publishing Website.


About the Author
Rachel is a YA author who likes dirty martinis and pickles on her pizza. Her stories tend to be either @RachelxRussell), or playing make-believe with her two daughters.
horror or fantasy, or a strange amalgamation of both genres. She works at Month9Books, LLC as both the Submissions Coordinator and an Editorial Assistant. When not reading or writing, Rachel is marathoning anime, becoming one with Twitter (

You can find and contact Rachel here:
Website. Facebook. Twitter. Goodreads.


There is a tour wide giveaway for the blog tour of Harvester.
Here's what you can win:

- One white leather infinity bracelet
- One e-copy of Harvester

Enter the rafflecopter below for a chance to win.
Rafflecopter giveaway

The Shatner Comma

As anyone who's ever read my writing pre-revision (or even after 3-4 passes of my own) can attest: I have a serious problem with Shatner Commas.

Let me explain first what a Shatner Comma is, and second, why I have such a problem with them.

Shatner Comma (n): Improperly placed commas that serve no grammatical purpose and thwart the rules of proper punctuation. They instruct the reader to take unnatural and illogical pauses, much in the way William Shatner so famously delivered his lines in Star Trek (TOS).

Why do I have such a problem with them? Because I was instructed (as were most people) to put commas where I would naturally pause in speech. That's right, I pause frequently and illogically in my regular everyday speech.  In my case it isn't something I do to create a sense of drama. As best I can tell the problem traces back to my childhood stutter.

To be clear, my stutter wasn't as horrible as in The King's Speech, and I wasn't endlessly teased for it (though I was dreadfully self-conscious about it).

I reminisced about it recently with my grandmother and she recalled that even at the age of 7 I worked endlessly to eliminate it. I'd sit playing on her living room floor reciting and repeating any sentence or word that I'd stuttered on until I had it silky smooth, at least so far as the stutters were concerned.

In their place came the pauses. To give my brain time to work around the hitch I think I subconsciously inserted a pause. That pause lingers to this day.

I spent many a Saturday morning on that same floor at my grandmother's watching re-runs of Star Trek:TOS, so maybe a bit of Shatner's delayed speech and odd timing crept in as well. We'll never know.

With the help of my Critique Partners and a LOT of hard work I'm edging towards eliminating reducing the Shatner Comma from my writing, but I can make no guarantees. As for the pause in my speech? It lingers to this day though I'm working to lessen it now that I'm fully aware of it. And it wasn't a cure-all for my stutter, which can still be found in diminished capacity any time I get overly excited about something.

Cover reveal for Harvester by Rachel Russell!

Here's a slightly different blog update. I'm lucky enough to not only have Rachel Russell as a CP, but I also get to reveal the absolutely beautiful cover of her forthcoming book! I'll also follow this post up with an interview on March 24th.

So, without further ado:

Harvester by Rachel Russell

Genre: YA Fantasy

Release Date: March 17th 2014

Sixteen-year-old Catalina has never seen the sky. As a mage, it's illegal for her to leave the underground city she lives in. The sun and moon are only fantastical stories of a land far away. So when Catalina stumbles upon a tunnel leading to the surface, she can't resist the temptation to see the surface world.

But instead of enjoying a night beneath the stars for the first time, Catalina emerges upon the scene of a savage murderer harvesting faery body parts. She's nearly his next victim, but is rescued by a grim boy named Will who has a troubling connection to the killer.

Even more disquieting is Catalina's criminal status upon returning home. Someone with political clout has framed her for the vicious slayings. Now on the run from the law, Catalina must uncover Will's tie to the serial killing of faeries, as well as stop a bloodthirsty murderer to prove her innocence, or face a death sentence.

You can add Harvester to your to-read list on Goodreads


Excerpt:

The last person caught smuggling medicine had disappeared, never to be heard from again, after Marshals whisked him away for interrogation. It wasn't a reassuring thought to have as Catalina stood in line and gnawed on the inside of her cheek. With each step she took toward the Arch, the glass vial hidden within the inside pocket of her vest grew heavier. She'd trafficked medicine into the city before, but it always felt like the first time. She supposed there were just some things you never got used to. Knowing the Arch wasn't designed to detect her precious cargo didn't stop her palms from sweating or her stomach from flip-flopping.

"Next." A scowling guard dressed in a black trench coat with a stiff, upturned collar waved her through with an exaggerated wave of his arm, as if she'd been dawdling.

Catalina sucked in a breath and stepped beneath the Arch. It wailed, shrill and loud, like a cat in pain. She startled, her eyes widening.
"Hands in the air!"
Oh no. No, no, no, Catalina thought. She held up shaking hands. My luck cannot be this crappy. She'd passed through the Arch dozens of times with the medicine on her and the alarm had never gone off before. Maybe it was a malfunction.

Another guard stepped over and passed a plain, black rod over her, starting at her head and traveling down. It glowed white when it neared her vest pocket.

Catalina's stomach bottomed out. They'd updated their equipment. For once, the law was a step ahead of her. The guard flipped open her vest and reached into the inside pocket, plucking out the vial. He held it up before his face, arching an eyebrow. Within the glass vial swirled clear liquid filled with glittering particles. The guard pulled out the stopper and sniffed.

Catalina caught a faint waft of honeysuckle flowers.

"It's faery elixir, all right." The guard put the stopper back on. "Take her to the interrogation room. The Marshal will want to speak with her."
The other guard stepped behind Catalina and twisted her arms behind her back. She needed to get out of there. If she could buck her head back hard enough to break the guard's nose, maybe— Then metal pinched the tender skin of her wrists. She tried to wriggle her fingers. Her knuckles hit cool iron. He'd encased her hands in mitten handcuffs, the only sure way to keep a mage from weaving a spell. Catalina sighed. Now it really was too late.

"Come on." The guard grabbed Catalina by the elbow and led her through a blue door off to the right.
Their booted steps echoed down a hallway with overhead lights so bright they whitewashed the walls and floor. Catalina squinted beneath the harsh glare. The guard led her to the end of the hallway and stopped in front of a dull door with black paint curling at the edges. Again, she was struck with the near-overpowering drive to bolt. She'd heard horror stories of Marshals using magic to strangle hearts near to bursting point till they got what information they wanted. The hinges on the door whined as the guard opened it. An empty room with a table and two chairs lay beyond. A cold chill rushed down Catalina's spine. Odd how such a sparse room could feel so menacing.

The guard shoved her into the room. "A Marshal will be with you shortly."
Catalina stumbled into the room and whirled to face the guard, only to be met by the door slamming shut. A click came from the other side of the door as he locked it.

She turned and strode to the table. "Great. What the hell am I supposed to do now?"

About the Author:
Rachel is a YA author who likes dirty martinis and pickles on her pizza. Her stories tend to be either horror or fantasy, or a strange amalgamation of both genres. She works at Month9Books, LLC as both the Submissions Coordinator and an Editorial Assistant. When not reading or writing, Rachel is marathoning anime, becoming one with Twitter (@RachelxRussell), or playing make-believe with her two daughters.

You can find and contact Rachel here:
- Website
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Goodreads