DIANNE:—that I decided to expand your role in the series. Plus I know your backstory. So I know there’s a lot more to you than meets the eye.
SHELDON: Which is why I deserve my own book.
DIANNE: Sheldon.
SHELDON: Moving on. Why did you decide to begin the series with Roland’s cantankerous ass?
DIANNE: [looks beyond Sheldon’s shoulder] You want to answer that, Roland?
SHELDON: [yelps as he jumps up and spins around]
DIANNE: [laughs]
SHELDON: [wilts with relief when he sees no one is there] Dude! Don’t do that! You scared the crap out of me!
DIANNE: Which makes me all the more glad I told you not to drop your pants during the interview.
SHELDON: Oh, ha ha ha. [retakes his seat] As I was saying, why did you decide to begin the series with [gives a quick look around, then whispers] Roland’s cantankerous ass?
DIANNE: I actually wrote both A Sorceress of His Own and Rendezvous with Yesterday before I dove into my Immortal Guardians series. Creating the gifted ones in the Middle Ages sparked many of the questions that led me to build the world of the Immortal Guardians. And Roland’s character in A Sorceress of His Own intrigued me so much that I thought he would be a great hero to begin with.
SHELDON: Were you by any chance high when you made that decision?
DIANNE: [laughs] No.
SHELDON: So Seth and Roland both appeared in A Sorceress of His Own.
DIANNE: Yes, as did Marcus.
SHELDON: How cool was it to see Marcus as a mortal teenager?
DIANNE: Very cool. I adored him in Rendezvous with Yesterday. And I love that he, Seth, and Roland have been with me for so long.
SHELDON: Do you plan to write any more books in The Gifted Ones series?
DIANNE: Absolutely. Scenes from Meghan’s book have been dancing through my head for years. So have scenes from Geoffrey’s book. Josh’s book, too. Josh has been on my mind so much that he almost made an appearance in Broken Dawn.
SHELDON: Do you know which one you’ll write first? Or when it will release?
DIANNE: Not yet. I’ll announce it as soon as I do though.
SHELDON: What about the Immortal Guardians series? Some fans are worried you might bring it to an end now that you’ve launched the Aldebarian Alliance series.
DIANNE: No. I’m having way too much fun with my Immortal Guardians and their Seconds—
SHELDON: Especially their Seconds.
DIANNE:—to say goodbye to them.
SHELDON: And you just transformed a lot of gifted ones into new Immortal Guardians, expanding the North Carolina crew.
DIANNE: Technically speaking, Gershom transformed them using Aidan’s blood.
SHELDON: Such an asshole.
DIANNE: That’s a bit of an understatement.
SHELDON: It really is. Will there be more IG stories in North Carolina? Broken Dawn took place in Texas, so some readers are also wondering if they’ve seen the last of the North Carolina crew.
DIANNE: Yes, there will be more stories that revolve around Immortal Guardians in North Carolina.
SHELDON: Cool.
DIANNE: But there will also be more Immortal Guardians stories like Broken Dawn that take place in other locations. Some really fun IG stories have come to me over the years that I’ve had to put off writing because I was focused solely on finishing the series arc that was set into motion by Bastien and eventually led to Gershom stepping in and doing his damnedest to launch Armageddon. I was reluctant to deviate from that because some readers didn’t care for Phantom Embrace when it released. They believed it didn’t contribute to the overall series arc or move it forward.
SHELDON: Didn’t it though? I mean, Yuri and Cat helped Seth locate the newly turned immortals Gershom was hiding, then helped Seth and David in the final showdown with him.
DIANNE: Yes. But that didn’t happen until Death of Darkness—book 9. Phantom Embrace was book 5.5, so readers didn’t foresee Yuri and Cat playing an integral role in preventing Armageddon.
SHELDON: Honestly, I didn’t either.
DIANNE: When Cat made an appearance in Night Reigns, did you foresee her falling in love with an Immortal Guardian several books later?
SHELDON: Hell no.
DIANNE: [smiles and shrugs] I did. That’s just how the stories come to me. Some of the other Immortal Guardians stories that came to me, however, would not have moved that particular series arc forward, so I set them aside until Gershom could be defeated and Seth could find love.
SHELDON: I’m really glad Seth found love.
DIANNE: Me, too. [winks] So is Adira.
SHELDON: Yeah. She really adores Leah. [eyes widen] Wait. What are you saying, that…
DIANNE: Adira left her unicorn toy at Leah’s shop on purpose? [smiles] Yes.
SHELDON: That. Is. Awesome! I love that little cutie.
DIANNE: I do, too.
SHELDON: Will Adira get her own book?
DIANNE: If I have my way, absolutely.
SHELDON: Sheesh. Whoever she falls in love with is going to have to be ballsy as hell with so many powerful immortals waiting to go medieval on his ass every time he screws up.
DIANNE: [laughs] True.
SHELDON: Will any Others get their own books?
DIANNE: Definitely. One is already writing itself in my head.
SHELDON: Not before I get my book though, right?
DIANNE: Sheldon.
SHELDON: What about the Aldebarian Alliance series?
DIANNE: What about it?
SHELDON: Did you always intend to send Immortal Guardians and gifted ones into space?
DIANNE: Yes. Lisa and Taelon’s story—The Lasaran—actually came to me before Marcus and Ami’s did.
SHELDON: [eyebrows fly up] Really?
DIANNE: Really.
SHELDON: Why didn’t you write it then? Why write Ami and Marcus’s story—and so many Immortal Guardians books—first?
DIANNE: [shrugs] It wasn’t time for Lisa and Taelon’s story. I knew that had to come later.
SHELDON: Did the wait drive you crazy?
DIANNE: [laughs] A little bit. But my Immortal Guardians kept me entertained in the meantime.
SHELDON: Will there be more stories in the Aldebarian Alliance series?
DIANNE: Many more. At least five are already dancing around in my head right now, clamoring to be told.
SHELDON: After you tell mine.
DIANNE: You’re determined to break the rules, aren’t you?
SHELDON: [grins] Hey, at least I didn’t drop my pants.
DIANNE: And I thank you for that.
SHELDON: Circling back to Ami… Right now the only Immortal Guardians in the world who know Ami’s origins and that she bore Marcus a child are those who are stationed in North Carolina and those who left Earth on the Lasaran battleship Kandovar. Everyone else thinks Ami is a gifted one and that Adira is adopted.
DIANNE: That’s correct.
SHELDON: Do you intend to change that at any point in the future and let the rest of the Immortal Guardians in on the big secret?
DIANNE: I have no immediate plans for that. But that may change depending on where the series takes me.
SHELDON: Since you know your characters better than anyone, is there something you can tell us about one or more of them that may not come to light in the series?
DIANNE: There are actually things I could tell you about each of them, yourself included.
SHELDON: Dude. You’re killing me. You know wondering what the hell it is will drive me insane.
DIANNE: Yep.
SHELDON: [baleful look] You love to torture people, don’t you?