After reading just two chapters of The Scent of Shadows by Vicki Pettersson, I emailed Pam (Spaz). My email may have sounded a little like a teenager at a Justin Bieber Concert, complete with squee’s & OMG’s. I knew I had to share this series with Pam; I needed someone to read along with. Never in our reviewing history have Pam & I read a series together, but let me tell you it was intense for both of us. Every day, there were Tweets & email exchanges, but I was ahead of Pam & could barely keep my mouth shut.

When we both finally finished the series, we both were in agreement: Vicki Pettersson is our favorite Urban Fantasy Author. This interview put Pam & I though the ringer, we pushed posts back so we could share all the info with you right away! Vicki even let us share the cover for The Neon Graveyard!!!

So it brings us fan girl screams to welcome Vicki Pettersson to Wicked Lil Pixie! Thanks for joining us Vicki, please excuse our fandom.

VP: There’s nothing to excuse – I’m unbelievably flattered! You guys really know how to get a girl through her work day. Thank you!

WLP: Can you tell our readers in 4 sentences or less about the Zodiac Series & the most recent book in the series, Cheat the Grave?

VP: The Signs of the Zodiac series follows reluctant superhero, Joanna Archer, who finds herself thrust into a previously unrealized paranormal world, and caught in the crossfire between battling factions of good and evil, or Shadow and Light. To add some cheer to a tale that can only end in a potential apocalypse, I set Joanna’s story in my quiet little hometown: Las Vegas. CHEAT THE GRAVE, the fifth installment in the series, is the book that longtime readers have been waiting for – where secrets are revealed, answers are provided, and asses are kicked.

Spaz: For those of us hopeless romantics, should we be worried about Carlos being on the scene? Is he a threat to Hunter, romantically? Give us a hint, pleeeease!

**Holds Spaz back**

VP: You sensed the potential there, eh? Let’s just say that given different circumstances it wouldn’t be impossible. Carlos has a lot to offer Jo. However, she’s been through so much with Hunter that no one else can turn her head now. Jo knows that. Carlos does too. Now, to convince Hunter …

WLP: I read on your site that the idea for the series came to you in a dream?

VP: It’s an annoying truth. I believe in hard work, and that the best ideas come when actively writing, but the scene that spawned my interest in Joanna’s story arrived at night, fully formed and full of attitude, danger, and loaded questions. What was this woman doing by so ineffectively wielding an expensive stiletto heel in mortal defense? Why was a man trying to kill her? And who the hell was the indigent in the third chapter claiming to be a superhero?

Spaz:  Since there are 12 signs in the Zodiac, are there 12 books planned for this series through to completion?

VP: I’ve said from the first book that the series is open-ended, but I’ve also admitted to driving Joanna hard and fast on her journey through the Zodiac underworld. I’ve been playing it by ear for the last couple of books, knowing she was getting fatigued and wondering when she’d get a breather (if not a happy ending), and now that the sixth book is well into production I can finally say: NEON GRAVEYARD, The Sixth Sign of the Zodiac is the last book in the series.

You know when you sit down over drinks with a friend you haven’t seen in forever, and there are a dozen things to talk about at once? And you know how after a few hours you’ve exhausted them all and you feel connected to this person and you’re happy to part ways until you can meet up with new experiences to share? That’s where I am with Joanna. She’s done talking to me for now. She very simply has nothing left to say after the events in NEON GRAVEYARD, and neither do I.

**please note Pam & Nat screamed in horror whilst reading this bit of info**

WLP: We HAVE to know is Ben Traina truly out of the picture?

VP: He really is. Joanna needed to clear out of his life in order to give him the fresh (safe) start that he deserved, and that she wanted so badly for him.

Spaz: Some of our favorite dialog was when Suzanne and Cher entered the scene. What are we going to do without Suz and Cher’s zest for life and comedic relief?! Their pencil tests! Their shoving toilet paper in the boobies!

VP: Thank you! I love women, I have brilliant real life girlfriends who are a little wacky and a lot of fun, and both of the scenes you mention were inspired by them. (Really, some things are too strange to make up.) Suzanne and Cher are not only essential comedic relief in what is otherwise a relatively dark series, but their scenes also do a great job of grounding the reader in a world where so much is fantastical.

 WLP: Out of all the real places mentioned in the book (Peppermill, Neon Boneyard, etc) what is/was your favorite place to visit?

VP: That’s a difficult question! I think I have to say the Boneyard just because I remain nostalgic over my city’s illustrious past. I know the rest of the world has a certain image of Vegas, but to me it’s just a dusty little desert town with a bright bulge in the middle.

Spaz:  Will we see Zane and the guys at the Comic Store again soon? Missed them in the Cheat the Grave!

VP: Yes. I missed them as well, so they make a crucial appearance in NEON GRAVEYARD.
 
WLP: Since the series is set in LV & you are a resident, what is the weirdest thing you’ve witnessed there?

VP: I was once hit on in a casino porte-cochere at nine a.m. by a clearly pickled, oddly barefoot, and sadly over-the-hill Elvis impersonator. Even I thought that was pretty weird. (Though it was more in the ‘Where is he coming from/how did he get here/where is he going?’ sort of way. It’s always about story with me.) Everything else is pretty much par for the course. I mean, not to sound jaded or anything, but if it’s in Vegas, can it really be called weird?

WLP: Can you give us a little hint about The Neon Graveyard?

VP: I’d love to! Though once the perceived savior of the paranormal underworld, Joanna is now just another mortal. Yet the dueling factions of Shadow and Light won’t leave her alone. And while she’s being hunted for her duality, she can’t afford to hide. Her lover – her future – is being held captive in Midheaven, the stronghold of a goddess, her greatest foe. Joanna will risk everything she’s fought for up until now in order to bring about the future she really wants, but that includes the prophesized apocalypse that will consume the valley if she fails.

WLP: Finally, Vegas Showgirl or Author? What’s been more fun?

VP: Author, hands down. I simply love it, and I’m thrilled I get to do it for a living.

Now excuse Pam & I while we go rock back & forth……