You are wearing your seatbelts? No? Well, holy crap, people, this ain’t no ordinary interview! Grab onto something relatively stable (which would leave me out) and get ready for some fuuun! Because Nicole Peeler’s in the house!

This is the lovely Dr. Peeler in her “at rest” state, hatching plots and making plans that generally leave the rest of us laughing so helplessly we just hope we haven’t peed ourselves when it’s all said and done.

This is Nicole outflanking fellow author, Jaye Wells, at a recent book signing they shared. Yeah, I’m still gonna do a signing with her as soon as we can align our calendars, but I am totally going into training before the big showdown, er, fan-friendly event!

And this is the cover of Nicole’s awesome new novel, Tempest Rising. Wanna hear more about it? Um…okay!

Jen: Tempest Rising is such a great title. Can you tell us a little about your debut novel and how the title represents the story?

Nicole: Thanks! It started with the idea of Jane swimming in a storm, so there was this kernel image I had of her as part of this wild, raging, elemental Tempest. Then I figured I could associate the idea of storm/wind/power (Tempest) with the magic of the supernaturals. THEN I thought about making that word the root word for every book in the series, and this story was about her ascending to her power and her supernatural legacy. So the word rising popped into my head, quite naturally. So I googled Tempest Rising, and discovered there was about ninety bands, songs, short stories, and even another novel named the same thing. But then I googled a random set of things–such as red, blood, and love story–only to find that basically every possible title has already been used, somehow, for something. So I continued with Tempest Rising for the manuscript, even though I did figure it would get changed by my publishers. I’d been told by someone, lordie knows who, that publishers “always” change the titles of books. So I’m sorta surprised it’s still Tempest Rising, but I’m also glad. I do like that name.

Jen: Selkies are obviously way underrepresented in Urban Fantasy, so it’s way cool of you to fill in that gap for readers like us, who can’t get enough of memorable heroines like your Jane True. What would you say are her main strengths, and what issues will we watch her deal with throughout your series?

Nicole: I think her main strengths are the very things that make her vulnerable in her new world. Jane is warm, and fundamentally this really loving, gentle person. But she’s been thrust into a supernatural world where having her big heart makes her weak. So she’s going to have to learn to fight for herself and what she believes in, without losing the Jane we meet in the first book. That’s why I chose “selkie” as her supernatural heritage. What is more lovable, cuddly, and vulnerable than a baby seal? And yet all of a sudden this half-selkie has to hold her own against vampires, and nagas, and harpies, and all of these other, far less cuddly mythologies. I knew it would make for some highly charged, and oftentimes amusing, shenanigans.

Jen: Love it that you bring a vampire into the picture right away. What’s going to fascinate us about Ryu?

Jen: Anything else you’d like to add?

Nicole: Does anyone remember that episode of the critic, on Comedy Central? With Jon Lovitz? It’s the one where his character writes a book and his big marketing strategy is life sized cutouts of him that say, “BUY MY BOOK,” in this horrible Lovitzian whine. Hilarious! So BUY MY BOOK!

Jen: Never let it be said that I ignored the urging of a woman wielding a folding chair! Especially one who can write as well as you, Nicole! As part of my training I’ll be running to the bookstore in three, two, one . . .