JEZEBEL:
Heya, Avid Fans! Welcome back to Cat and Muse, coming at you live from the deep, dark pit of Jackie Kessler’s website. With me, as always, is the marvelous Muse of Tragedy, the cliche-speaking, pop culture-referencing…Melpomene!

[APPLAUSE]

Hi, Mel!

MELPOMENE:
YO.

JEZ:
Ooh. Love your “Adama is a Cylon” t-shirt. I guess you’re eagerly awaiting for the launch of the final season of Battlestar Galactica?

MEL:
CYLONS ARE, IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS, LITTLE MORE THAN TOASTERS… WITH GREAT-LOOKING LEGS.

JEZ:
I think that Roslin is the last Cylon.

MEL:
[SNORTS] AS SMART AS BAIT.

JEZ:
Heh. Me-ow. All righty, Ms. Bitchipants. Let’s move on.

The next guest on Cat and Muse knows what it’s like to be catty. Romantic Times calls ROGUE a “smart, sexy sequel to STRAY” and says the heroine is “as sassy as ever, and her first-person observations add greatly to the reader’s experience.” And Darque Reviews says “Ms. Vincent shares an entertaining and suspenseful paranormal tale filled with murder, mystery and romance.”

Avid Fans, say hello to the star of Rachel Vincent’s Werecats series…Faythe!

[APPLAUSE]

Heya, Faythe!

FAYTHE:
Hey, everyone! And thanks, Jez, for having me over.

JEZ:
So, a rash of murdered tomcats somehow relates to a string of missing human strippers…and it winds up pointing to you. My my! Where to start?

MELPOMENE:
STRAY CAT STRUT.

JEZ:
Men it is! Faythe, talk to us about the men in your life. Or, you know, cats. Boy cats. Cats with important boy parts.

FAYTHE:
I’ve got four older brothers, three of whom live at home with me. Well, one’s locked in a cage in the basement.

JEZ:
Kinky!

FAYTHE:
[SHAKES HEAD] It’s punishment.

JEZ:
You say “tomato”… So, living at home, huh?

FAYTHE:
[SMIRKS] I’m twenty-three, and I still live with my parents. Seriously. In the room I grew up in. One big happy family, that’s us. [SIGHS] But at least I get free room and board.

JEZ:
Hey, that counts. Rent is expensive. But you’ve got a job, don’t you? [GLANCES AT NOTES] You’re one of your Pride’s enforcers, right? You protect the Pride, patrolling and defending your territory. Stuff like that. Right?

FAYTHE:
[NODS] I’m the first-ever female enforcer.

JEZ:
Kinky!

FAYTHE:
I work for my father.

JEZ:
Er. Okay, maybe not kinky…

FAYTHE:
Along with six guys.

JEZ:
The kink is back!

FAYTHE:
Including two of my brothers.

JEZ:
Okay, now that’s just illegal.

FAYTHE:
And I thought I had it rough being picked on as a kid.

JEZ:
Poor sweetie. Are you good at being an enforcer?

FAYTHE:
The bad guys never expect to get their asses kicked by a chick, so they never see me coming.

JEZ:
Oh, yeah?

FAYTHE:
And I get to play rough. [GRINS] Really, it’s the only way to play.

JEZ:
Nope, not taking the bait this time. Let’s talk clothing. What’s your standard outfit?

FAYTHE:
Low-cut jeans and snug tees. Jeans and a black tee for work. If I wear something nice, it’s just going to get ripped and bloodstained, so I don’t bother.

JEZ:
Heh. You do like it rough, don’t you?

FAYTHE:
I’m not much into clothes anyway. Which is just fine with Marc…

JEZ:
Hold the phone. Marc?

FAYTHE:
[SMILES] One of the enforcers I work with.

JEZ:
Oh, good! For a moment, I was afraid you’d be all work and no play. Okay, spill. You and Marc. Who’s on top?

FAYTHE:
Doesn’t really matter who starts on top, does it?

JEZ:
Hah! Good point. What’s your romantic fantasy?

FAYTHE:
Me and Marc. Alone. Like, no one else in the building.

JEZ:
And here I was thinking something more along the lines of vacationing in Maui…

FAYTHE:
We live in a house with seven other people. Two of whom are my parents. Everyone has supernatural hearing, and the guys have no decorum.

JEZ:
I suppose you might have to invest in gags, huh?

FAYTHE:
I can describe my fantasy in one word: privacy.

JEZ:
Okay, pretend you don’t have to worry about your folks and brothers and co-workers hearing you every time you decide to get sweaty with your guy. Which is better: sex or chocolate?

FAYTHE:
What kind of chocolate are we talking about? And what kind of sex?

JEZ:
[BURSTS OUT LAUGHING]

FAYTHE:
And really, why choose just one when you can have both?

JEZ:
Fair enough. So, in Rogue, were there any parts of the story where you were like, Rachel, sweetie, what the Hell are you making me do? Or were you and your Creator in sync the entire time?

FAYTHE:
Okay, there was this scene in a strip club where the girls all wear cheesy costumes…

JEZ:
Got to interrupt. Describe cheesy.

FAYTHE:
I’m talking fake feathers and fur.

JEZ:
Yeah, okay. I’d have to agree with you. Pray, continue.

FAYTHE:
I had to pretend to apply for a job there to get information out of the bartender. That, I could have done without.

JEZ:
Hmm. Well, stripping’s not for everyone.

FAYTHE:
And that scene with the railroad spike? Totally my idea. I gave her that one.

JEZ:
Ooh, gruesome! If you had your way, what would you change about ROGUE?

FAYTHE:
If I could do the whole thing over again, I’d store the extra light bulbs in the kitchen. Not in the basement. Whose bright idea was that, anyway?

JEZ:
Heh. If you could make Rachel do anything, what would it be?

FAYTHE:
Take a vacation. If she takes a break, I get one too.

JEZ:
Hah! I love that! [GLARES AT COMPUTER SCREEN] Hear that, Jackie? You need a vacation!

JACKIE:
[OFF CAMERA] I want to go to Maui!

MEL:
VACATION’S ALL I EVER WANTED…

JEZ:
Speaking of daydreams, if Werecats goes Hollywood, who should play you in the movie?

FAYTHE:
Megan Fox. The girl from Transformers. If she can fight robots, she can fight werecats, right?

JEZ:
Sounds good to me. What about Marc? Who should play him?

FAYTHE:
And the closest I can come to Marc would be Nicholas Gonzalez. So hot.

MEL:
SOME LIKE IT HOT.

FAYTHE:
He almost does Marc justice.

JEZ:
Finally, if you could be evil for one day, and you were granted spiffy evil powers, what would the powers be and how would you use them?

FAYTHE:
I would want to shoot fire from my eyes.

JEZ:
That’s a first! Why?

FAYTHE:
That way, I could just incinerate the bad guys and get on with my evening. No more weekend get-aways interrupted by trespassing strays. No more ruined clothes. No more bodies to bury. Just a pile of ash waiting to be redistributed by the breeze. Or vacuumed, if my mother’s around. That woman’s deadly with a crevice attachment.

JEZ:
Bless me, I love it! Remind me never to piss you off. Or your mother.

Boys and girls, give another hot round of applause for the star of Rachel Vincent’s Werecats series…Faythe!

[APPLAUSE]

[No, this isn’t Faythe. But it is her Dear Creator, Rachel Vincent.]

You can buy ROGUE and STRAY at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Sense stores like Mysterious Galaxy, and other fine bookstores near you.

That’s it for this episode of Cat and Muse! Until next time, remember: love your inner demon.