Interview with Kendare Blake, author of Girl of Nightmares!

I assume you've put your faces back together from last year, when Kendare Blake stopped by and rocked them off. And I'm sorry to do this to you again, but - who am I kidding? I'm not the least bit sorry about what's about to happen. I got to chat with Kendare again for the 2nd Anna book, Girl of Nightmares, and once again faces will be rocked right the eff off.
(You can try to hold on to them, but really, why fight it?)
You can check out my review later today, but until then:

First, I just want to say welcome back, Kendare Effen Blake! 
And I want to say thank you, for remembering my full name.

There has been a lot of (deservedly) high praise for Anna Dressed in Blood; what’s been the most surprising thing about reader reactions for you? All of it was surprising! 
I had zero expectations and almost no hopes when Anna was released. So it's been fantastic to hear all the reactions. Even the bad ones. I guess I'm sort of surprised that most people seem to love Anna. I thought she'd be harder to get behind, what with all the tearing people in half.

Have people been sharing their own local urban legends with you in the wake of Anna? If so, do you have any favorites? 
They really haven't, and I wish they would. My favorite is probably the one where the couple finds the dead body stuffed in the hotel mattress. Happens more often than you'd think. So you know, check your mattresses.

I know the Anna books are only supposed to be a duology (frowny face), but are there any plans to do a “spin-off” or have other books set in Anna’s world? 
Not as of now. But I can't say there will never be. I mean, Stephen King is finally writing a follow up to The Shining. Who saw that coming?

You're currently working on another series, Antigoddess, based on Greek mythology set in contemporary times - what inspired this series? 
My love of The Iliad and The Odyssey. And I guess my love of girls who can tear people apart with their bare hands. I've always been a huge fan of heroines like Ripley and Sarah Connor.

Was it a shock to the system to go from writing Anna to writing modern mythology? Or is Anna a natural lead-in, with urban legends being modern myth in their own right? 
I feel like it was natural. Despite the fact that there are no ghosts in ANTIGODDESS, there's still a lot of gore and death. Heroes and violence. But I'm not sure. I hope readers make the transition though!

The last time we met Kendare Effen Blake, she was on a job interview and had double parked... Could we get the next line of Kendare Effen Blake’s story? 
Well, she lost that job interview and was escorted out by guards, all the while screaming, "Do you know who I am? I'm Kendare Effen Blake!" So she's scaled it back a bit. Nowadays, it's more like, "Kendare Effen Blake is going to eat that whole chocolate cake. Why? Because she's Kendare Effen Blake." I'm trying really hard to get her to stop talking in the third person.

Would you rather face down an angry Anna or a dying Greek god? 
Oh, that's tough. Is Anna still locked in her house? Because then I have a shot. I'm tempted to say I could reason more with a dying god, but then again our lives are nothing to them. So maybe not.

Book-in-a-tweet - Girl of Nightmares in 140 characters or less: 
Cas Lowood can't stop thinking about Anna Dressed in Blood. But finding out what happened to her might cost him his life. (That's tough. Tweeting is tough!)

If you could let Anna get her hands on any fictional character (book, movie, tv - whatever) and...go to town, who would you unleash her on? 
Ha ha. Go to town. That's what I would say, too. "Anna, go to town." But I guess I would have her go to town on...I've said the Smurfs before, and they still deserve it, but this time...The Power Rangers. Because it would be multi-colored, and she'd feel ridiculous doing it.

Lastly, anything you want to say to readers as we come to the end of Anna and Cas’ story? 
Thank you for reading. And for seeing their story through. As for the ending though, I guess I can only say one of two things. "I'm so glad you liked it!" or "I'm so sorry!"
Thanks for having me by The Book Rat! Always such a fun interview. Seriously. Great questions!

Aww, shucks. *blushes*  
Thanks so much for stopping by again, Kendare!!

As for the rest of you - god, I can't talk to you like this; put your faces back on. 
That's better. 
Now, where was I? Oh yes, as for the rest of you, Girl of Nightmares hits stores today, so you should probably already be at the check-out counter, GoN in hand... If you haven't picked up Anna Dressed in Blood yet, what is wrong with you I would suggest you remedy that ASAP.  It was one of my absolute faves of last year, and I find I still have a real soft spot for Anna, which I'm sure she'd be happy to exploit in hand-to-hand combat why even bother calling it combat it can't be hand-to-hand without limbs you know...
[Go. Go get it. Why are you still reading this when you could be reading that^?]