Guest: Kira Brady

Hi Everyone – I know I’m behind and I know I desperately need to announce winners. [Um … anyone wanna take over that task?] But – today we have Kira Brady visiting with us! Yay! [Sorry for not more enthusiasm and intro – I’m kinda tapped out. Kira is adorable and pretty awesome though.]

Some like it wet.

In Seattle, we joke that Alaskans have forty words for snow, but we have forty words for rain. Read the weather forecast and you just might believe it: cloudy with rain, mostly cloudy with showers, rain tapering to showers, clouds limiting sun with frequent showers, periods of rain showers, heavy rain, light rain with afternoon sunbreaks. What’s a “sunbreak” you ask? It’s that brief moment of glory when the clouds part and a shaft of glimmering, golden sunlight spills through to light our world. Seattleittes live in hope of those sunbreaks. Day after gloomy day, we wait in perpetual faith that we will get that one moment of zen. And when it hits, illuminating the surrounding mountains, shimmering off the water, and casting the world in lighter shade of pale, it makes all the time spent in the gloom worth it.

August, alone, is a month of sunbreaks. It’s like a hot love affair after a long, lonely drought. We have sunny day after sunny day. For the other eleven rainy months, all we have is hope. We live in faith that August will come, just as we know that somewhere behind that thick wall of clouds, the sun still shines.

Seattle weather is a great romance: It starts off in the doldrums; the heroine and hero are in a Bad Place. They meet. Things go from bad to worse. There are sparks (sunbreaks!). May or June tease with the possibility that they might carry summer on their winds, but the clouds and the bad guys close in. Toward the end of July, it seems like all hope is lost for our hero and heroine. They start to believe they’ve been transported to Ray Bradbury’s Venus, where the sun is only seen for two hours once every five years. This is not that year.

And then like a thunderbolt from the heavens, August comes roaring in. Hot, raging sun all day long. Our hero and heroine remember what it is to be too warm. They realize perhaps they might survive the rainy season if they team up. Together, they might occupy themselves inside, away from the damp, warming each other up and watching in hope of that rare, perfect moment: sunbreak.

Seattle in the Deadglass Trilogy is its own character: wet, insidious, and seductive. I had a great time writing about it, in part because I do love the city, rain and all. While I love my sunbreaks, August finds me running for the shade. What’s your favorite time of year? Do you like the sound of rain on a hot tin roof? Or do you prefer the caress of sun day in and day out?

 Bio: A native Seattleitte, Kira spent her childhood hiking the rainy forests of the Pacific Northwest and drying out by the fire with a good book and a mug of something hot. She graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania, where she met her real life Prince Charming and promptly dragged him back to sunless Seattle. She fell in love with historic, haunted cities in graduate school. Now she writes about the twisted cities of her imagination, where wraiths and shape-shifters stalk the night and love redeems even the darkest heart. When not writing, she can be found drinking inordinately large mugs of Assam tea, knitting wool socks, and raising a wee heroine-in-training.
Kira is giving away either a print, kindle, or nook copy of Hearts of Darkness to one lucky commenter who answers her question. Ready? Go!

0 thoughts on “Guest: Kira Brady

  1. TrishJ

    I lived in Monterey, California for 3 years. We had the FOG. It would roll in every morning, the sun would peek out around 1:00 and the fog would roll in back around 2:00. Every day. And the fog brought in a chill that would sink into your bones. We have retired to sunny Florida, and I LOVE the sun. Autumn is my favorite season though. We still get sunny days, but not so much heat. Rain on a tin roof?? Great napping weather. ;-). Love to win a copy of your book.

    Reply
  2. Gail

    I would love to hear the sound of rain right now!!! Summer sun is my favorite time but this summer has been really hot and dry!!! We (the family) said if it rained soon we would go out and play it in!!! This drought s##ks!!!

    Reply
  3. Elizabeth Haney

    My favorite time of year is fall. I love when the leaves change colors and you have to start wearing a jacket. But rainy days are my favorite type of day. We have had a horrible drought this year, but I’m hoping for a rainy fall.
    Thanks for the giveaway!

    Reply
  4. Cathy P

    I love rainy days as long as it’s not flooding. There is something so peaceful and restful when you are listening to the rain. It is also great sleeping weather unless you have a lot of thunder boomers.

    Reply
  5. Rebe

    I definitely prefer the SUN and WARMTH!!! I’m a transplanted Southerner living in the midwest, and the cold and rain/snow/ice get me down. Also, my poor pooch is terrified of thunderstorms and loves to wake us up for reassurance… in the middle of the night. I could do without it, that’s for sure!

    Reply
  6. Anne Clark

    I love spring because it is starting to be warm sun is shining and everything is bright not drab like winger. Plus all the flowers and bulbs have come up and everything is green again. I live in the deep deep south so spring is pleasant and not to hot.

    Reply
  7. Liz

    My fav time of year is fall. I live in NJ and we have the Pine Barrens here, and they turn the most amazing colors in the fall. Just glorious. In the summer – I like the “idea” of sunshine more than the actual heat and humidity that comes along with it. Really neat post, Kira, you are a true wordsmith! Don’t enter me in the giveaway, I had the pleasure of reading/reviewing H.O.D. for Lime and recommend it for any paranormal romance fan!

    Reply
  8. Diane Sallans

    I enjoy those crisp fall days before it gets dark really early, a bit of rain to keep things green, but I don’t like to go too many days without sunshine.

    Reply
  9. donnas1

    I really like fall. Although right now with the way the weather has been a nice rainfall would not be a horrible thing.

    Reply
  10. lavendersbluegreen

    I live in Seattle and I LOVE it. I have lived in the South, the NorthEast (Coast too), the MidWest, The West Coast as well as elsewhere in the world. I always come home to Seattle! I love it here year round. Our Summer can be hot for here… but sure is better than Minnesota or Tennessee. Our Winter can be mild or crazy (for here) but it sure is not as bad as elsewhere. I adore the drizzle. The many and varied kinds of grey… I think Fall is wonderful though. The smells of the air, the trees, the apples, etc.

    Reply
  11. Becky Ward

    Spring is my favorite time of the year. I like to listen to rain on the roof. I also love to watch thunderstorms passing through. I do enjoy the sun especially during the winter months.

    Reply
  12. Mary Preston

    After the heat of Summer, the sound of rain on a hot tin roof and the smell of rain on hot scorched earth is literally Heaven sent.

    Reply
  13. Linda Thum

    I live in the tropics & it’s almost always hot & humid. Love it when it rains; it’s a nice relief from the heat & there’s nothing nicer than snuggling down in my fav armchair with a good book to the sound of rain. My fav time of the year is Dec-ish cos that’s when we have the most holidays! More time for reading 🙂

    Reply
  14. JoAnne

    My favorite time of year is late spring. I love that everything is green, flowers are growing, temperatures aren’t too hot so you don’t need air conditioning yet. I love sunshine more than rain but do like to curl up with a good book when it’s raining out and you’re all snug inside while the rain and wind are lashing at the windows.

    Would love a copy for my Nook.
    Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the Seattle weather and how you incorporate it in your writing.

    jbcweiss AT sbcglobal DOT net

    Reply

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