Feature Friday: Melanie Card

Don't forget to participate in the Dreaming of Summer Giveaway/Hop (here).

Melanie has always been drawn to storytelling and can't remember a time when she wasn’t creating a story in her head. Her early stories were adventures with fairies and dragons and sword swinging princesses.

Today she continues to spin tales of magic in lands near and far, while her cat sits on the edge of her desk and supervises. When she’s not writing, you can find her pretending to be other people with her local community theatre groups.

Interview:

A.L.: 

What piece of advice would you give to a budding author?

Melanie:
Hi A.L., thanks for inviting me on your blog today. The advice I try to follow is just keep writing. You never know if anyone’s gong to be interested in your stories or not and you also don’t know when that might happen. So when you finish a story (and it’s clean and beautiful and as perfect as you can make it to your current abilities), send it out and start the next one. If that first one doesn’t catch someone’s interest then you’ll have another one ready soon.

A.L.:

What's your favorite book and why?

Melanie:
I’m not sure I like to pick favorites. There are lots of books I love and a lot of different reasons to love a story. The one book I do tend to go back to is “Magic’s Pawn” by Mercedes Lackey. There’s something about the story that resonates with me (that and it’s a wonderful example of how to torture your characters).

A.L.:

Where did you get the idea for Ward Against Death?

Melanie:
Ward Against Death came from a couple of ideas. It was close to Halloween and I was watching Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hallow on TV. I really liked Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Ichabod Crane. I liked that he was quirky and endearing and determined to deal with a horrible situation no matter how terrified he was (I’m also a fan of the fact that he gets the girl in the end). At the same time I was toying with the question about what the situation would be for a traditionally bad character (a necromancer) to be the good guy. That night, Ward de’Ath showed up. He’s the boy next door, trying hard to do the right thing, and forced to fall back on the family business of necromancy to pay his rent even though he’d rather not be a necromancer. From there the pieces started to fall into place.

A.L.:

Did you hit any snags while writing Ward Against Death?  What were they and how did you fix them?

Melanie:
The first 75% of the story fell together like it had always been there just waiting for me to write it down (not all of my stories are that easy to write). I had given myself an ambitious timeline (just to see if I could do it) and didn’t want to stop and spend the time figuring out the final 25%. So I plowed through the ending and sent it off to my critique partner. A couple weeks later I got this email from her saying she loved the book but I took this weird left turn in the ending and if I was smart I’d toss the last hundred pages and rewrite them. That’s not the kind of critique I wanted to hear. But when I went back and looked at the draft she was right. I took this bizarre turn that didn’t make any sense. I tossed the last hundred pages and completely rewrote them. As much as I love saving words and reworking them and sculpting them, sometimes they just shouldn’t be saved.

A.L.:

Which one of the characters in Ward Against Death is your favorite and why?

Melanie:
Ward is my favorite. Although a part of why I love him is because of his interactions with Celia. Ward is honest and earnest and does what he says no matter how difficult it is or how scared he might be. He’s not a big, strong, hero of a man, not yet, we’re just starting to see his hero potential. He needs to figure himself out and grow into the person he’s supposed to be. That’s what I love about Ward.

A.L.:

Can you tell us a little bit about your journey as an author?

Melanie:
I started seriously pursuing publication back in 2004. I sent out my first query letter, received a requested full and then waited a year and a half (I really didn’t know anything about the business back then) only to learn through the internet that “that editor had left the company.” I learned more about the business and sent out many more query letters for that manuscript (currently unpublished) and wrote Ward Against Death. I sent out tons of queries for Ward. No one wanted it. I wrote more books and sent out even more letters—I have a good couple hundred rejection letters—and finally, in 2011, after I’d written a number of novels, Entangled Publishing expressed interest in Ward Against Death (and another series that I’d started).

A.L.:

What are you working on now?  Sequel?  Something new?

Melanie:
The second book in the Chronicles of a Reluctant Necromancer series, Ward Against Darkness, is in edits with my editor, and I’m finishing the final touches on the third book (in the four book series).

A.L.:

So, you’ve always wanted to be a writer?  Can you tell us a little bit about the very first story you ever concocted?

Melanie:
For the most part I always wanted to be a writer. I lost my way around high school and university and then found the path back  to writing. One of the very first stories I wrote was about Sprinkle the Fairy. There’s a terrible dragon destroying her magical forest and she had to defeat the monster. Except the dragon isn’t really a monster, he’s just scared and lonely and trying to find a way back home. Sprinkle uses her magic to help him and everyone lives happily ever after. It  was a picture book. The magic forest has purple and orange trees.

A.L.:

Ward Against Death would be termed “new adult” because Ward is twenty.  What made you choose that age in particular for him?

Melanie:
When I started I had no intention of writing a “new adult” (I wrote Ward Against Death years before I knew about the new adult genre). In reality, historical fantasy fiction often has young protagonists and there’s no age distinction regarding how they’re shelved. I suspect the young protagonist is part of the coming of age tradition often found in fantasy. For Ward, I knew he had been kicked out of school in his final year and that being a physician would require a certain amount of maturity, so he couldn’t been too young. Or at least, not too young for a modern day audience to accept (in Ward’s time period kids were apprenticed—and married—at really young ages, 10, 12, 14 years old). I’m not sure I’d want a 14 year old prescribing me medicine so I knew I couldn’t go that young. I also have the problem with Celia being an assassin. I didn’t want her to be too young either when she’d killed her first person. For some reason the idea of a 12 year old killing someone really bothered me. So I picked twenty.

A.L.:

So, Ward’s falling for Celia, who is a chick he raised from the dead...Do people give you funny looks when they find out about that or do people kind of take it in swing because of the whole vampire thing?

Melanie:
It’s funny, some people haven’t done the math on it and are surprised when I point out that Celia is actually undead. When I remind them that they also read vampire stories, they get this funny expression like they can’t seem to make what Celia is match with how they think about vampires. Others don’t even bat an eyelash like undead girls happen all the time. I love that I write in a genre where I can bring people back from the dead.

The Giveaway:

Melanie is giving away a copy of Ward Against Death.

Ward Against Death: Twenty-year-old Ward de’Ath expected this to be a simple job—bring a nobleman’s daughter back from the dead for fifteen minutes, let her family say good-bye, and launch his fledgling career as a necromancer. Goddess knows he can’t be a surgeon—the Quayestri already branded him a criminal for trying—so bringing people back from the dead it is.

But when Ward wakes the beautiful Celia Carlyle, he gets more than he bargained for. Insistent that she’s been murdered, Celia begs Ward to keep her alive and help her find justice. By the time she drags him out her bedroom window and into the sewers, Ward can’t bring himself to break his damned physician’s Oath and desert her.

However, nothing is as it seems—including Celia. One second, she’s treating Ward like sewage, the next she’s kissing him. And for a nobleman’s daughter, she sure has a lot of enemies. If he could just convince his heart to give up on the infuriating beauty, he might get out of this alive…

Excerpt:

Her eyes narrowed and her hand snaked under the pillow. “It’s not wise to enter a lady’s bedchamber without her consent.”

            Ward plastered on his calmest, gentlest expression. The newly wakened dead often assumed they had just roused from sleep. “You’ve been unwell.”

            Her icy blue eyes examined him, her gaze jumping from his face, to his wig, to his jacket, and back to his face. “Unwell? Is that what my father told you?”

            “In a manner of speaking.” She wasn’t acting the way she was supposed to.

Noblewomen, particularly those around his age, were usually demure or aloof—not suspicious.

            “Well, I’m fine, and I’m sorry my father troubled you.” She threw back the covers, sat up, and stepped onto the thick rug. “Now go, be a good doctor, and tell my family I’m healthy and sleeping.” She punctuated her last word by pulling her nightdress over her head, revealing a slim waist, athletic muscles, and pale skin marked with the purple bruises of livor mortis along her back. And no other clothes.

            “But—” He flushed and spun around to face the wall. “What are you doing?” No. Wait. What was he doing? He’d seen a dead naked woman before. Just never like this.

            She chuckled. “I’m going for a walk.”

            “A what? No—You can’t.” She really wasn’t acting the way she was supposed to.

            “I beg to differ.”

            The situation was spiraling out of hand. Damn it, he had to take control. He was the necromancer, she the newly awakened. She was supposed to listen to him.

            He turned to confront her. Thankfully, she was fully dressed—in men’s clothes, but at least she was dressed. “Listen, I—”

            She slipped her hand under her pillow and removed a sheathed dagger.

            Great Goddess! She kept a dagger under her pillow? Ward inched toward the door to block her escape without appearing obvious, although he had no idea what he’d do if she fought him. Why did he always get stuck with the difficult corpses?

Read Goodreads reviews.

Buy on Barnes and Noble.

Buy on Amazon.

How to Enter: 

Enter the giveaway using Rafflecopter. Hit the green "Do It" buttons, follow the prompts, and hit the green enter buttons when you're done. (You may have to log in using Facebook to do this). There will be one winner (selected by Rafflecopter). I will contact the winner via email. This contest is open to international entrants.

 

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Dreaming of Summer Giveaway/Hop

The Giveaway:
I am also giving away a copy of WARD AGAINST DEATH by Melanie Card (here).
One lucky winner can pick any one of these awesome summer reads:

Reached by Allie Condie: After leaving Society and desperately searching for the Rising—and each other—Cassia and Ky have found what they were looking for, but at the cost of losing each other yet again: Cassia has been assigned to work for the Rising from within Society, while Ky has been stationed outside its borders. But nothing is as predicted, and all too soon the veil lifts and things shift once again.

In this gripping conclusion to the #1 New York Times-bestselling Matched Trilogy, Cassia will reconcile the difficulties of challenging a life too confining, seeking a freedom she never dreamed possible, and honoring a love she cannot live without.

Dunk by David Lubar: To the Bozo, the clown who sits inside the cage above the dunk tank, everyone is a "mark." Once he has zeroed in on his victim, the Bozo comes up with the perfect wisecrack something funny enough to make people stop and listen, and cruel enough to hook the mark. Now the mark is bent on revenge, and he'll buy however many balls he needs to hit the target and see the Bozo plunge into the water. It's a game that fascinates Chad, who lives on the Jersey shore, where the boardwalk turns into an amusement park every summer. He wishes he could shout at the world from the safety of a cage his dad ran out on him and his mom, and now everyone seems convinced that Chad will wind up a loser, too. He's determined to get a job playing the Bozo, something he knows he'd be good at. Suddenly, Chad finds himself thrown into a strange and twisted world, where humor has far more power than he ever imagined.

With a crackling plot and smart, funny dialogue, Dunk pulls readers along on a journey that exposes a universal truth: We all need to laugh. 

Life of Pi by Yann  Martel:  After the sinking of a cargo ship, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a wounded zebra, an orangutan—and a 450-pound royal bengal tiger. The scene is set for one of the most extraordinary and beloved works of fiction in recent years.

Universally acclaimed upon publication, Life of Pi is a modern classic.

Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia/Margaret Stohl: Is death the end . . . or only the beginning?

Ethan Wate always dreamed of leaving the stifling Southern town of Gatlin.

But he never dreamt that finding love with Lena Duchannes would drive him away. Lena is a Caster girl whose supernatural powers unveiled a secretive and cursed side of Gatlin, so powerful it forced him to make a terrible sacrifice.

Now Ethan must find a way to return to Lena - and Gatlin - as she vows to do whatever it takes to get him back. Even if it means trusting old enemies or risking their loved ones' lives.

Can Ethan and Lena rewrite their fate and their spellbinding love story in this stunning finale to the Beautiful Creatures series?

Ember by Jessica Sorenson: What if you knew when someone was going to die?

For seventeen-year-old Ember, life is death. With a simple touch, she knows when someone will die. It’s her curse and the reason she secludes herself from the world. The only person who knows her secret is her best friend Raven.

Then she meets Asher Morgan. He’s gorgeous, mysterious, and is the only person Ember can't sense death from. So when he pushes into her life, she doesn’t mind.

But when unexplained deaths start to haunt her town, Ember starts questioning why she can’t sense Asher's death and what he may be hiding. 

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire: INTENSE. DANGEROUS. ADDICTIVE.

Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate number of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance from the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand.

Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby wants—and needs—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match 

How to Enter:
Enter the giveaway using Rafflecopter. Hit the green "Do It" buttons, follow the prompts, and hit the green enter buttons when you're done. (You may have to log in using Facebook to do this). There will be one winner (selected by Rafflecopter). I will contact the winner via email. This contest is open to national entrants only.

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Don't Forget to Enter the Other Giveaways: 

Monday Muse: Fever Ray - The Wolf

Yeah, remember that love scene from Red Riding Hood? Me too. :) Creepy cool song to wake you up this Monday morning.

Feature Friday: Laura Ellen

Don't forget to participate in the Dreaming of Summer Giveaway/Hop (here).

Laura Ellen is a full-time writer and mother of three who began her career as a teacher in both Language Arts and special education. Diagnosed with juvenile macular degeneration as a teen, she drew upon her own experiences with vision loss to write her debut YA thriller Blind Spot, an emotional and suspenseful page-turner. Born and raised in Fairbanks, Alaska, she recently moved across country from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Scottsdale, Arizona.

Interview:
A.L.:
What piece of advice would you give to a budding author?

Laura:
Keep writing. If you want to be a writer, you have to write all the time and you have to revise what you've written. It's the only way to get better at it.

A.L.:
What's your favorite book and why?

Laura:
Eek, that's hard. I love so many! My absolute fave though might be A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly. I love the way she merged genres -- historical, mystery, and literary -- so flawlessly in the novel.

A.L.:
Where did you get the idea for Blind Spot?

Laura:
I knew I wanted to write a character that was going through the first stages of dealing with a disability like I did myself as a teen -- but I also wanted to write a mystery/thriller. So I thought why not make the character's struggle to accept herself and the mistakes she makes while doing it, the catalyst for the trouble she gets into?

A.L.:
Did you hit any snags while writing Blind Spot? What were they and how did you fix them?

Laura:
Definitely! Using my experiences as a visually impaired teen was actually tying my hands when it came to the development of the plot and main character. I kept thinking of Roz as me and that stinted what situations I put her into. So I had to take 'me' out of it. I did this by rewriting the novel in third person,. That way I could distance myself from her and see her as her own person with her own issues, family, friends, etc. Once I'd taken myself out, I rewrote it again in first person.

A.L.:
Which one of the characters in Blind Spot is your favorite and why?

Laura:
I like them all because they are all very flawed -- which makes them all very real.

A.L.:
Can you tell us a little bit about your journey as an author?

Laura:
I've always been a writer -- writing keeps me sane! But I didn't start pursuing becoming an author until about 2002. I knew I needed to learn the business if I wanted to break in, so I attended writing conferences, joined a critique group, went to graduate school, and yes, wrote  . . A LOT.

A.L.:
What are you working on now? Sequel? Something new?

Laura:
It's another stand-alone, also a thriller, about a girl who goes to Alaska to meet the father she'd never known and discovers he's accused of murder.

A.L.:
Roz, your main character, is – like you - legally blind because she has macular degeneration. Can you tell us a little bit about writing a character that, I assume in some ways, is meant to frame what life must be like for you?

Laura:
When I set out to write Roz's story, I thought it would be easy because I'd lived her life -- the difficulties navigating everyday life, the awkwardness in relationships, the stereotypes, and the downright unforgivable treatment by teachers who for whatever reason won't accommodate in a classroom.

But it wasn't easy. It was hard because I kept seeing Roz as me. As I mentioned earlier, I had to pull 'me' out of it. I wasn't writing an auto-biography. This was fiction. I learned that 'write what you know' doesn't mean EXACTLY what you lived, it means use the emotions, the knowledge, the lessons and apply them to the fictional situation you've created for your character.

A.L.:
You’re originally from Alaska. Can you tell us what your absolute favorite thing to do or go to was while you were living there?

Laura:
 I love so many things about Alaska -- like the Northern Lights in the winter (just hate the winter!); they are spectacular in shades of green or blue or red. I think my absolute favorite though  is camping in the summer when it is all day sun and you are out deep in the woods by a river, no one around. I love that.

A.L.:
So, music is a big inspiration for you. Can you tell us what your favorite artist, favorite song, and favorite instrument are and why?

Laura:
Ugh! Like books, music shifts for me according to mood! But okay, I'll play.

Favorite artist: Probably Rob Thomas, both solo and with Matchbox Twenty. He is a phenomenal song writer and I love how he mixes different types of music, especially in his solo stuff.
Favorite song (right now!) would be the acoustic version of 'Outside' by Staind with Fred Durst; I like how you can hear the pain in that song; it's so raw, gets me every time.
Favorite instrument, hands down would be acoustic guitar. When a musician unplugs or picks up the classic guitar, he strips the music down to just him and those notes, and there's something so intimate about that; it opens him up, makes him vulnerable. 

The Giveaway:

Blind Spot:  There’s none so blind as they that won’t see.

Seventeen-year-old Tricia Farni’s body floated to the surface of Alaska’s Birch River six months after the night she disappeared. The night Roz Hart had a fight with her. The night Roz can’t remember. Roz, who struggles with macular degeneration, is used to assembling fragments to make sense of the world around her. But this time it’s her memory that needs piecing together—to clear her name . . . to find a murderer.

This unflinchingly emotional novel is written in the powerful first-person voice of a legally blind teen who just wants to be like everyone else.

Read Goodreads Reviews.
Buy on Barnes and Noble.
Buy on Amazon.

How to Enter:
Enter the giveaway using Rafflecopter. Hit the green "Do It" buttons, follow the prompts, and hit the green enter buttons when you're done. (You may have to log in using Facebook to do this). There will be one winner (selected by Rafflecopter). I will contact the winner via email. This contest is open to national entrants only.
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Monday Muse: Mirror Mirror OST - 17. I Believe In Love (Evil Queen Mix)

So, I just saw this movie and this song is now stuck in my head. It's pop-catchy. Really cool bit? The actress who plays Snow White in this film SINGS this song. Other really cool bit? She's going to be Clary Fray in the Mortal Instruments movie...

Feature Friday: Cindy Holby as Kassy Tayler

Cindy Holby first became published in 2002 with her historical western Chase The Wind.  Since that time she has written eleven historicals, three sci/fi romances, one time travel,  four young adult novels and two short stories. Some have even won awards.  Her latest release is Angels End, from Berkley, the first book in a new historical western series.  This November, Ashes Of Twilight, the first book in her highly anticipated steampunk dystopian series will be released from SMP under the pen name Kassy Tayler.  Cindy lives in NC with her husband Rob, her doxie Cody and two cats, Cisco and Dax.  She also works with the humane society and has a blog about rescue titled Authors For Animals.

Interview:
A.L.:
What piece of advice would you give to a budding author?

Kassy:
Read what you like to write so you know what the market is like.  Also write every day if possible. If you can't physically write at least spend some time thinking about your story. You never know when a good idea will hit you.

A.L.:
What's your favorite book and why?

Kassy:
My favorite book is Sabrina by Madeline Pollard.  This is not the Sabrina  we've seen at the movies. Its about a young Irish girl before World War 1.  It is so wonderfully descriptive that I read it over and over again.

A.L.:
Where did you get the idea for Ashes of Twilight?

Kassy:
I was thinking about writing a steampunk because it was a natural fit for me with my westerns and sci/fi.  Shortly after the coal mine explosion in WV in 2010 the idea came to me.  Both of my grandfather's were coal miners and I lost an uncle in a mining accident.  So it all just came together in my mind.

A.L.:
Did you hit any snags while writing Ashes of Twilight?  What were they and how did you fix them?

Kassy:
I really didn't have any snags in the story. It all flowed rather naturally.  I knew exactly how it was going to end.

A.L.:
Which one of the characters in Ashes of Twilight is your favorite and why?

Kassy:
Wren, because she's just an normal girl trying to do the best she knows how.  The situation around her gets worse but she never gives up on her dream.

A.L.:
Can you tell us a little bit about your journey as an author?

Kassy:
It's like riding a roller coaster.  It has its ups and downs and sometimes its scary but then there are the throw your arms up in the air and scream your head off with joy moments that makes it an interesting ride.

A.L.:
What are you working on now?

Kassy:
I am currently doing edits on the sequel, Shadows of Glass and working on the third and final book in the series, Remnants of Tomorrow.  I'm also busy self pubbing my back list and working on the fourth book in my Star series written under my Colby Hodge name.  Sequel?  Something new?

A.L.:
You write adult literature under different names, what drew you to wanting to write a YA dystopian?

Kassy:
I've written YA before, a sweet little story called Obsessing Orlando.  Ashes Of Twilight just demanded to be written.  The voice and story is so different than anything else I've ever done.  I couldn't not write it.  It was an adventure.

A.L.:
Why coal?

Kassy:
I come from coal miners and coal country.  Its a way of life that I know.  Why a domed city? There was an original Star Trek episode about a world inside a space ship.  They didn't know they were traveling through space.  I always thought it was so interesting and it stuck with me.  That is how the story opens.  Wren is looking at her hollow world and thinking about touching her sky.

A.L.:
You’ve got two sons, do you feel like you write for them or channel aspects of them when you write YA pieces?

Kassy:
My sons are grown men and don't read despite me reading to them all the time when they were children. However I have used their personality traits in some of my characters in my western series.

The Giveaway:
Kassy is going to be sending one lucky winner a copy of ASHES OF TWILIGHT.

Ashes of Twilight: Wren MacAvoy works as a coal miner for a domed city that was constructed in the mid-nineteenth century to protect the royal blood line of England when astronomers spotted a comet on a collision course with Earth.

Humanity would be saved by the most groundbreaking technology of the time.

But after nearly 200 years of life beneath the dome, society has become complacent and the coal is running out. Plus there are those who wonder, is there life outside the dome or is the world still consumed by fire?

When one of Wren's friends escapes the confines of the dome, he is burned alive and put on display as a warning to those seeking to disrupt the dome’s way of life. But Alex’s final words are haunting. “The sky is blue.”

What happens next is a whirlwind of adventure, romance, conspiracy and the struggle to stay alive in a world where nothing is as it seems. Wren unwittingly becomes a catalyst for a revolution that destroys the dome and the only way to survive might be to embrace what the entire society has feared their entire existence.

Read Goodreads reviews.
Buy on Barnes and Noble.
Buy on Amazon.

How to Enter:
Enter the giveaway using Rafflecopter. Hit the green "Do It" buttons, follow the prompts, and hit the green enter buttons when you're done. (You may have to log in using Facebook to do this). There will be one winner (selected by Rafflecopter). I will contact the winner via email. This contest is open to national entrants only.
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Monday Muse: The Hobbit Soundtrack - Radagast The Brown

It's coming! Some beautiful music to tide you over until The Hobbit actually comes out.

Feature Friday: Leanna Renee Hieber

As some of you know, I've already had Leanna Renee Hieber as a Featured Friday author in the past.  She's back because, well, she's a close friend and her new book, THE TWISTED TRAGEDY OF MISS NATALIE STEWART, has just recently been released...So why wouldn't I have her again?  LOL.

That said, I didn't want to be boring and have a repeat of her last FF visit, so today's FF is a little different: longer bio, shorter interview questions, and...a podcast?  Yup.  Not only am I featuring Leanna, but I'm also plugging another one of my author friends today!  We'll get to that part further in the post.

Author, actress and playwright Leanna Renee Hieber grew up in rural Ohio inventing ghost stories. She graduated with a BFA in Theatre and a focus in the Victorian Era from Miami University. She began her theatrical career with the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company and began adapting works of 19th Century literature for the stage. Her one-act plays such as Favorite Lady have been published, awarded and produced around the country. Her novella Dark Nest won the 2009 Prism Award for excellence in the genre of Futuristic, Fantasy, or Paranormal Romance.

Her debut novel, The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, first in her Strangely Beautiful series, landed on Barnes & Noble's bestseller lists, was named a favourite of 2009 by 14 book blogs, won two 2010 Prism Awards (Best Fantasy, Best First Book), the 2010 Orange County Book Buyer's Best Award (Young Adult category) and is currently in development as a musical theatre production with Broadway talent on board. The Strangely Beautiful series has been translated into several languages and was selected for hardcover editions via Rhapsody and SciFi Book Clubs. The Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess, the prequel in the series, won the 2012 Prism Award (Best Fantasy).

DARKER STILL: A Novel of Magic Most Foul, first in Leanna's Gothic Historical Paranormal saga for teens (Sourcebooks Fire), hit the Kid's/YA INDIE NEXT LIST as a recommended title by the American Booksellers Association. Seventeen Magazine said of DARKER STILL: "This chilling tale will draw you in and keep you guessing until the very last page!" The book has been praised by Shelf Awareness, The Chicago Tribune, Pixie Magazine and more. DARKER STILL will also be translated into several languages and has been selected for a SCHOLASTIC edition as a "highly recommended" title.

Leanna's short fiction has been featured in anthologies Candle In the Attic Window and the upcoming Willful Impropriety: Tales of Society and Scandal, "Too Fond";  a forthcoming short for Tor.com and Queen Victoria's Book of Spells: Tales of Gaslight Fantasy (March 2013, Tor).

Podcast:
So, it's not always easy coming up with happy fun time questions for FF authors...Especially if you've already interviewed them...So, I thought it might be interesting to try something a little different.  You readers know that I try to do some more "personal" questions for FF authors.  Much as that sometimes offers incite into an author's personality, it's not as encompassing as a video or a recording could be, so...I've decided to let you "hear" Leanna and get a peek at her personality...Probably cause I like her so much and want everyone else to like her too, LOL.

 Leanna recently did a podcast interview with another author friend, PJ Schnyder, and PJ's boyfriend, Matt.  Matt and PJ podcast about writerly/gamerly things and their podcast is called Mangos and White Rice.  If you click the link below you'll be able to listen to the podcast containing the interview with Leanna...There's also stuff about a "Women in Steampunk" panel at New York ComicCon, Steampunk Weddings, and of course the gamer bit at the end.  Enjoy!

http://mangorice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Episode-3-MangoRice-Leanna-Renee-Hieber-Final-Version.mp3

Interview:
Since PJ and Matt asked Leanna about the most important details, I thought I'd still do some of my my own supplemental questions.

A.L.:
Can you tell us a little bit about your new series with TOR?

Leanna:
Indeed! Here’s what I’ve whipped up to describe this insane adventure:

THE ETERNA FILES, coming from TOR Books / Macmillan; a new quirky, character-driven Gaslamp Fantasy saga set in 1882 following a paranormal arms race for immortality between New York City and London. A huge cast of larger-than-life characters fight for hearth, home and the cure for death. Including but not limited to: mediums, chemists, healers, spies, uncanny detectives, royalty, magicians, sword-fighters, robber barons, mutants, psychic vampires, visionaries, prophets, excellent book-keepers, fearsome civil servants, covert operatives, unorthodox espionage, one poor skeptic and a circus. And that's just book one.

A.L.:
You recently went to England to do some research for your new series.  Can you tell us some of the places you went to and why?

Leanna:
A few of my favourite places: 1. Kensington Palace, where Queen Victoria grew up. (Because she makes a few cameo appearances in The Eterna Files) 2. Parliament (Because several scenes will take place in Westminster Palace) 3. The Tate Britain to see the Pre-Raphaelite Exhibit (Because they were very influential Victorian artists and happen to be my favourites) 4. Wandering Knightsbridge, Temple/Aldwych, Whitehall and other areas as characters and offices within the story are set in those locations. 5. The BBC (Because my friend is awesome and gave me a tour and I hugged a TARDIS. Oh, yes, yes, I did.) 6. The Harry Potter Studio Tour (SO I COULD FREAK OUT WITH JOY… segue into next question…)

A.L.:
Since you’re channeling Narcissa Malfoy these days, we have to ask, if you (as her) were to get into a magical battle this very moment, what spell/curse would you use?

Leanna:
*Smiles a sly, prim smile* If Lucius or Draco were not present in said battle, I would simply apparate out and avoid it entirely. If they were engaged in the battle, I would have no problem using any/all of the Unforgivable curses in order to keep my family safe.

A.L.:
The cover and title for the second book in the Magic Most Foul series are very different than that of Darker Still.  While I know why, would you explain to *possible confused/disgruntled* readers why there was a change in the look of the series?

Leanna:
Darker Still is a beautiful cover but it sort of falls into the wash of “pretty girl in pretty dress” covers. Sourcebooks wanted to go with something darker and more Gothic for the sequel, as I do write Gothic historical novels and the tone of this second book cover really suits my work. Also, do keep in mind that at any of the big publishing houses, authors have no say over their book covers or titles. In this case, both the title of The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart and the cover were given to me and that was sort of that, thankfully I like them. This cover is actually my favourite of all my covers. Maybe I’m biased since I own several corsets that look like the one in the picture…

A.L.:
What can fans of Darker Still look forward to in the sequel, Twisted Tragedy?

Leanna:
In The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart you will find more action, more drama, a continuation of Natalie and Jonathon’s relationship as they grow into an absolutely wonderful and compelling team together. We’ve new characters, new nightmares, a new mystery, and what approximates to a Goth club in 1880 NYC. My editor says it’s the best book I’ve written and I can’t wait to share it with all of you!

Cheers and Happy Haunting!
Please keep in touch via Twitter: http://twitter.com/leannarenee and FB: http://facebook.com/lrhieber and check out news and exclusive content via my site: http://leannareneehieber.com

The Giveaway:
Leanna is providing one lucky winner with a copy of DARKER STILL and signed book plates for THE TWISTED TRAGEDY OF MISS NATALIE STEWART.

Darker Still: I was obsessed.

It was as if he called to me, demanding I reach out and touch the brushstrokes of color swirled onto the canvas. It was the most exquisite portrait I'd ever seen--everything about Lord Denbury was unbelievable...utterly breathtaking and eerily lifelike.

There was a reason for that. Because despite what everyone said, Denbury never had committed suicide. He was alive. Trapped within his golden frame.

I've crossed over into his world within the painting, and I've seen what dreams haunt him. They haunt me too. He and I are inextricably linked--bound together to watch the darkness seeping through the gas-lit cobblestone streets of Manhattan. Unless I can free him soon, things will only get Darker Still.

Read Goodreads reviews.
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Buy it at Amazon.

How to Enter:
Enter the giveaway using Rafflecopter. Hit the green "Do It" buttons, follow the prompts, and hit the green enter buttons when you're done. (You may have to log in using Facebook to do this). There will be one winner (selected by Rafflecopter). I will contact the winner via email. This contest is open to national entrants only.

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Monday Muse: Do You Love Me - Unwoman

Something a little different. Brought to you by one of my friends cause all I wanted to muse you with this morning was fire. Sorry, I'm learning about house fires for this scene and now I'm all FIRE! Kinda scary...

Feature Friday: Kelly Keaton

Kelly is a multi-published author with six novels currently in print. She writes the YA series, Gods & Monsters (Simon & Schuster), and the Charlie Madigan series (Pocket Books), which are written as Kelly Gay. She is a two-time RITA nominee, an ARRA nominee, a Goodreads Choice Award finalist, and has landed on the Southern Independent Bookseller's Alliance's Book Awards Long List and their Okra Picks List. On the personal side, Kelly loves ancient history, fantasy, and mythology. She dreams of one day attaining magical powers, discovering the secret to immortality, ridding her home of pet hair, and being crowned Mardi-Gras queen. She likes pre-Raphaelite art, moonlight on snow, and RPGs. She lives in North Carolina with her family, one Great Dane, and two incredibly hairy cats.

Interview:

A.L.:
What piece of advice would you give to a budding author?

Kelly:
To keep writing and to learn how to look at your work with an open mind and a critical mind. It’s also important to realize you don’t have to be perfect right from the rough draft. Writing is about rewriting, crafting, editing, polishing. If the goal is a finished novel, finish it and give yourself something to work with. As Nora Roberts says, you can fix a bad page, but you can’t fix a blank one.

A.L.:
What's your favorite book and why?

Kelly:
I don’t have just one favorite. That would be like choosing between my children, LOL. THE BLACK STALLION, THE MISTS OF AVALON, INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, A KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR, GAME OF THRONES, THE MERLIN TRILOGY... So many. All different, but I think what makes them favorites are the characterizations, the way every character comes across as real, no matter if they are paranormal in some way or not. It’s that relate-ability, the fact that they aren’t perfect and they don’t make all the right decisions. You can identify with their joys, sorrows, pain, and, therefore, as a reader, you care what happens to them.

A.L.:
Where did you get the idea for the Gods and Monsters series?

Kelly:
The idea was a formation of several things—my love of Greek mythology, New Orleans, and tough female heroines. It all came together and the combination really worked for me as a storyteller.

A.L.:
Did you hit any snags while writing the Gods and Monsters series? What were they and how did you fix them?

Kelly:
Nothing really major. I guess the biggest snag was in the second book, A BEAUTIFUL EVIL, when I had written a new character (a god). I fell in love with this character, but had to cut him from the story completely. That was hard. I wanted readers to meet him, to fall for him too. But my editor was right and it wasn’t his time. So I ended up cutting about three chapters and reworking a lot of scenes. It made the book tighter and drew the focus back to my main characters where it should’ve been. Plus, all is not lost -- readers will get to meet him in the third book. He found his place, after all. :)

A.L.:
Which one of the characters in the G&M series is your favorite and why?

Kelly:
This is a hard one to answer! I cycle back and forth between favorites. Violet has a very special place in my heart. So does Ari. And I know it might seem weird, but I absolutely adore Athena and all her psychotic behavior. I feel a lot of sympathy for her because I know her past and why she acts the way she does.

A.L.:
Can you tell us a little bit about your journey as an author?

Kelly:
My journey was very long. I’d tried for about ten years to sell my work, first through plays, shorts, and screenplays, before moving to fiction. Once I finished my first novel, it took me five more years (and six more manuscripts) to finally sell. Those years were peaks and valleys – some very disheartening and frustrating, and some filled with good things like contest wins, grants, and landing agents, etc... I gave up a few times, which lasted all of a few weeks, but my imagination never quit and I’d always have a new idea and the notion to try one more time.

A.L.:
What are you working on now? Sequel? Something new?

Kelly:
All of the above, LOL. I’m working on the 3rd Gods & Monsters book. And I’m getting ready to self-pub a ‘new adult’ fantasy novel called EMBERS IN A DARK FROST, which is set in the mythical realm of Innis Fail (of Irish mythology). And I’m working on a new adult proposal for my editor, which is probably the biggest thing I’ve ever written. So, yeah, keeping pretty busy!

A.L.:
Why did you decide to use New Orleans as New 2? How did you approach revamping this classic city?

Kelly:
I fell in love with NOLA when I was sixteen. I knew that one day I’d set a story there. I just never felt I had to right story until Ari came along. And I wanted to really highlight the things I love about the city – the gothic, lush, Old World, melting pot/diversity aspects. I wanted to make it more like the frontier days of old when it was more dangerous and not everyone had all the luxuries that the rich did. But I didn’t want to go back in time, so I went forward to an alternate version of the city. The goal was to hold onto to things I love about the city, to highlight the people, the architecture, the history, and traditions while making it a sanctuary for paranormals and such.

A.L.:
You’re a big fan of mythology. Who is your favorite mythological character and why?

Kelly:
I guess it’s obvious by now that I have a problem with choosing favorites! Isis, Athena, Artemis, Sekmet, Hades, Ares, Zeus, Horus, Anubis, Lilith... I could go on and on! They all have these great powers, but often times even greater flaws and that’s what I like about them. Yes, they’re gods, but in so many ways they are very human too, especially when it comes to their emotions and rashness and decisions.

A.L.:
Ari, your main character, is kick a**. Where does this girl get her sass? Should we fear you in a dark alley?

Kelly:
Yes. Fear me! LOL. Ari is a lot of things I wish I could be – she is stronger, braver, and more willing to jump into the fray. And I like writing that kind of toughness, feeling empowered, and making other women and teens feel empowered through a character.

A.L.:
Making Athena is baddie is a new one for me…Why her and not another Greek Goddess?

Kelly:
Athena, to me, has always been the goddess in the Greek pantheon that stands out, and who stands above the rest. She is the only one able to use Zeus’s aegis and lightning bolt. She is extremely intelligent, a patron of strategy, civilization, wisdom... She has all these great attributes. She never had a consort or lover; she thought love was illogical. To fill in the missing two thousand years, from when those myths were written until now, it was just a challenge I had to take. What things happened to her? How has she changed? Did she finally fall in love? What made her into this heartless villain? Only she isn’t heartless, not really, not when you start learning about that missing time...

A.L.:
Little do my follows know that I, like you, am also a massive fan of Pre-Raphaelite art. Dork Moment: What’s your favorite P-R piece and who is your favorite P-R artist?

Kelly:
Hands down J.W. Waterhouse, John Collier, and Edmund Leighton. I LOVE Collier’s LILITH and PRIESTESS OF DELPHI, Waterhouse’s CELINE WITH BOWL, LAMIA, LADY OF SHALOT, and Leighton’s ACCOLADES and LADY AND KNIGHT. There’s more, but those are some of my major favs.

The Giveaway:
Kelly will provide a signed copy of DARKNESS BECOMES HER for one lucky winner!

Darkness Becomes Her:  Ari can’t help feeling lost and alone. With teal eyes and freakish silver hair that can’t be changed or destroyed, Ari has always stood out. And after growing up in foster care, she longs for some understanding of where she came from and who she is. Her search for answers uncovers just one message from her long dead mother: Run. Ari can sense that someone, or something, is getting closer than they should. But it’s impossible to protect herself when she doesn’t know what she’s running from or why she is being pursued.

She knows only one thing: she must return to her birthplace of New 2, the lush rebuilt city of New Orleans. Upon arriving, she discovers that New 2 is very...different. Here, Ari is seemingly normal. But every creature she encounters, no matter how deadly or horrifying, is afraid of her.

Ari won’t stop until she knows why. But some truths are too haunting, too terrifying, to ever be revealed.

Read Goodreads reviews.
Buy on Barnes and Noble.
Buy on Amazon.

How to Enter:
Enter the giveaway using Rafflecopter. Hit the green "Do It" buttons, follow the prompts, and hit the green enter buttons when you're done. (You may have to log in using Facebook to do this). There will be one winner (selected by Rafflecopter). I will contact the winner via email. This contest is open to national entrants only.
a Rafflecopter giveaway