The Argeneau and Rogue Hunter Series discussion
Let's talk about the series
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Series FAQs by Lynsay Sands
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A Quick Bite (Lissianna’s story) – November 2005
Love Bites (Etienne’s story) – January 2004
Single White Vampire (Lucern’s story) – September 2003
Tall, Dark & Hungry (Bastien’s story) – July 2004
A Bite To Remember (Vincent’s story) – July 2006
Bite Me If You Can (Lucian’s story) – February 2007
The Accidental Vampire (Victor’s story) – January 2008
Vampires Are Forever (Thomas’s story) – February 2008
Vampire, Interrupted (Marguerite’s story) – March 2008
The Rogue Hunter (Garret Mortimer’s story) – September 30 2008
The Immortal Hunter (Decker Argeneau Pimms’ story) – March 31 2009
The Renegade Hunter (Nicholas' story) - October 2009
Born To Bite (Armand's story) – September 2010
Bitten By Cupid (Tiny's story) - January 2010
Hungry For You (Cale's story)– December 2010
Q. Do I have to read the Argeneaus in the order they were written?
I try to write all of them to stand-alone but some stories, especially one of the most recent stories called Vampire, Interrupted does bring in A LOT of characters from past stories. It may be difficult for someone who hasn't met them before to keep them all straight. I don't think you HAVE to, but it might be better if you read a couple of the other stories first.
Q. What are the origins of the Argeneau name?
I came up with the Argeneau name from argentum, which is Latin for silver. In early times people were named for notable attributes (i.e. strength, blonde hair, etc.) and as the Argeneaus all have silvered blue eyes I decided their name would be based on this. They have had various versions of the name over time such as Argent, Argentis, Argento, and Argeneau depending on the time period and where they were living. I decided on the French version for the modern day family.
Q. How do you pronounce Argeneau, Etienne, Bastien, Lucern?
Argeneau is Ar-zsa(as in Zsa Zsa Gabor, the actress)-no.
Etienne is spoken as Et-ee-en.
Bastien is Bass-chen
Lucern is Loose-urn
Q. Why is Leigh missing from the family tree?
I have no control over what the publisher puts in the family tree. I gave them a family tree with everyone in it, and they made their own version, leaving out Leigh for the sake of space. The family tree here on my website includes her.
Q. Why did you start writing about vampires?
The idea came while MSNing with some writer friends. One of them suggested doing a vampire anthology, with each of us doing our own take. With my track record in romantic comedy, I said if we did that, my character would probably faint at the sight of blood or something. I then threw out various other ideas. The anthology never came to pass, but the ideas lingered in my mind, taunting me until I sat down to start writing the series and the Argeneaus were born.
Q. Why my immortals are not the living undead and how I came up with nanos.
The reason I had to find a reasonably logical explanation for how the vampires/immortals came about was that I just didn't like the idea of dead people having relationships with live people. I know it may sound odd, but I couldn't see how a soulless person could love anyone, so if I was going to write a vampire book, I needed to create a reason why my characters would be recognizable as vampires and would require a regular blood intake for sustenance and yet would still be alive. Nanos was my answer.
Q. Why don’t the nanos keep immortal children from maturing?
The job of nanos is to keep the host at their peak condition, not to prevent their maturing so while the nanos will repair and rejuvenate immortals who are turned at a later age, repairing the damage caused by sun and environment and the simple passage of time, it will not prevent an immortal child from aging until they reach their mid-twenties to early thirties.
Q. Can the nanos fix genetic problems?
Nanos do not fix genetic anomalies because they don't recognize a genetic issue as being something that needs repairing which is why Victor and Vincent both have to feed directly from donors as opposed to bagged blood . . . because it's a genetic anomaly that they have, not something needing repair.
Q. Why the Argeneau series are not just romance.
Because that would be boring . . . at least for me it would.
I actually get a lot of readers who cross over from other genres. There are fantasy, horror and science fiction readers who all seem to like my books. I've also been pleasantly surprised by the number of men who read them and I sometimes wonder if my publisher would be better describing my books as something other than romances and then perhaps a wider audience would try reading them.
Q. Your new books are called the Rogue Hunter series. How are they different from the Argeneau series?
This whole business of Argeneau series versus Rogue Hunter series is just kind of a pain. I never titled the first books The Argeneau series, the publisher did, and it made it difficult for me to write about secondary characters that weren't Argeneaus. But I wanted to, and finally just went ahead and did when I wrote Mortimer’s story in The Rogue Hunter. He, of course, is not an Argeneau . . . which put them all in a panic at my publisher’s in New York because the series is called the Argeneau series. So then they decided to come up with a different series title for this book and any others I do that aren't about Argeneaus (rolling eyes here). The truth is—for me—it’s just another story following the others. It features a character we’ve met before (Mortimer, one of the rogue hunters who helped out Leigh and Lucian in Bite Me If You Can) but also has Argeneaus and others in it and paves the way for future stories. Lord knows what they’ll do when I write about a character who is neither an Argeneau nor a rogue hunter. The series could have three names then. LOL
Q. Why haven’t the Argeneaus been made into a movie or T.V. series?
Authors don't really have any say in whether their books get turned into movies. It's actually Hollywood and others in the movie industry who make the decision about which books to use. And while I'd love to see some of my characters on the big screen (played by the right actors and actresses of course) I haven't yet been approached by anyone making any suggestions that they would like to film my books.
Q. Why can’t I get the earlier books by Dorchester (Single White Vampire, Love Bites and Tall, Dark & Hungry) in e-book format?
Unfortunately, I cannot tell you when or if the first three books (Bastien's, Etienne's and Lucern's stories) will be published in e-book format. That really is up to the publisher's discretion but we have let Dorchester know that our readers desire the e-book format.
Q. Can you tell me what Argeneau books were published in hardcover?
The books that I know have been published in hard cover are as follows:
Rhapsody Book Club has:
Bite Me If You Can
Vampires Are Forever
Accidental Vampire
Double Day Book Club:
A Bite To Remember
Vampires Are Forever
Q. Are the first three books from the Argeneau series being republished with new covers?
Dorchester, the publisher of Single White Vampire, Tall, Dark & Hungry and Love Bites, has decided to repackage all three books to look similar to the rest of the series published by Avon.
Single White Vampire – reissue December 2008
Love Bites – reissue March 2009
Tall, Dark & Hungry – reissue December 2009
Q. Who killed Annie? Who killed the pregnant mortal 50 years ago? Will there be another book in the Rogue Hunter series that will explain the unanswered questions from The Renegade Hunter?
There will be a next book, Armand's story, which will explain the unanswered questions from The Renegade Hunter. It is coming out August 31st, 2010. The two books are kind of intertwined like Vampires are Forever and Vampire, Interrupted. I was hoping they would be pubbed back to back like those two books were but, unfortunately, I don't have any say in these things. So you'll get the answers then, and I am really sorry about the wait!
Q. What ever happened to Leigh’s baby?
Leigh lost her baby because of a genetic problem, which nanos will not fix. Never fear though, she will be pregnant again and that one will take.
Q. When will Justin Bricker get his story?
Justin will eventually get his story but not quite yet. You will have to wait for his but in the meantime he will be the comic relief. Besides he’s pretty young yet and still enjoying life and all the liberties that immortality has brought him. He can handle a little wait.
How about a Christmas or a big wedding for a giant get together of most all of the characters. It would be so funny and great to see some of the characters that have not been used much. Such as Victor, Vincent, Notte twins, Julias,and the kids that have been born or are on their way.
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Armand’s story is scheduled for release August 31st, 2010.
Q. When will Bricker be reappearing?
Bricker will be returning in Armand’s story as well as in Alex Willan’s story, which are both being released in the Fall of 2010.
Q. Will Chris Keyes ever get his own story?
Chris will likely never have his own story. He's based on a real person, my editor at my previous publisher, Dorchester Publishing, and the real CK just hasn't found his life mate yet.
Q. When will you do Christian’s story?
I do have plans for Christian but am not sure at this point when I will get to his story. There are a couple others before him.
Q. Will Dante, Tommaso, GG, Marcus, Neil, Stephano be getting their own stories?
While I'm sure they will all get stories, I can't guarantee it just now or tell you when. It all depends on whether readers keep wanting them and publishers keep publishing them. I do have ideas, but we will have to see if they make it to print.
Q. Will you give us more on Jean Claude’s story?
I doubt I'll go into too much more detail concerning Jean Claude. A lot has already been explained about his character in A Quick Bite and Vampire, Interrupted and how he affected Thomas, Lissianna and Marguerite.
Q. When will you do Jeanne Louise’s story?
Jeanne Louise is being suspiciously silent. I did have an idea for her a while ago, but I guess the time isn't right for her yet, so she probably won't get a story for some time.
Q. I realize she’s just a friend to the family, but will you do Mirabeau’s story?
Possibly.
Q. Will Teddy Brunswick reappear in future stories?
Teddy may appear in future story(s) as Port Henry may be revisited but I just can't say for sure at this point.
Q. When will you do Tiny’s story?
Tiny’s story is in the anthology Bitten By Cupid, which is scheduled for release December 29th, 2010.
Q. Will you write another book about an Argeneau couple that’s already gotten together?
I don't go back and do books focusing on the same couple again. However, they do appear in future books as secondary characters.
Q. What is Roberto’s relationship to the Notte family?
Roberto Conti Notte was the life mate of and married to one of Julius's sisters, Rosa. He gave up his own family, his name, and his mortal life to be with Rosa and become a Notte. By the time Rosa died Roberto had been a member of the Notte family for centuries. The Nottes are the only family he knows now and he was--and is still--considered a member of their family despite the death of his wife. Roberto is considered a brother to Julius and his other sisters even though, biologically, he isn't.
Roberto and Rosa had kids while she lived, they are half-siblings to his son, Neil, with Elaine and as far as they are concerned to Stephano as well (though he would disagree, but that's part of his story). Stephano was welcomed as a Notte the moment Elaine joined the family. She is now considered a Notte and even if Roberto died, would remain a part of the family. After a hundred years, they will probably think of her as a sister even though she biologically isn't. It's a function of the length of their lives and their relatively small numbers compared to the rest of humanity. But it's also a necessity amongst immortals. If they didn't think and act this way (for instance if they’d kicked Roberto to the curb when Rosa died) they would be raising the risk of those abandoned immortals becoming rogues.
Anyway, Roberto is still considered a brother to Julius, and his second life mate and any children gained through her have been embraced by the Nottes and are considered a part of the clan.
Q. Why are most of your Argeneau characters Canadian?
I am Canadian and I know Canada. I write about locations that I have at least visited, as I need to have some knowledge about the area before I can describe it. I also lived in England for two years after meeting my husband who is British and visited other European countries which is where I got the research for the stories based in Europe.
Q. Which order are the Argeneau books in, they seem to have been published out of order?
They were published out of order. When I wrote the proposal for the series it started with Lissianna's story, then Etienne's story, then Lucern's, then Bastien's. However, Dorchester, my publisher for the first three books, could only purchase three books at the time and chose the brothers. It was their choice to take the brothers and not the sister and their choice to publish them out of order. Now the series is at Avon and Lissianna was the first they published. From now on the stories will be in order.