Kamilla Reid is the author of an exciting new fantasy book, The Questory of Root Karbunkus (Reviewed), which although aimed at younger readers, will be enjoyed by adults too. The first book in the series is entitled ‘Item I: Miist’, and introduces us to the new and wonderful world of Dre’Amm.

Q. Let’s start with the most important part.. can you tell us a little more about your book?

A. Well, in a one-liner it’s sort of like the ultimate magical scavenger hunt. But here’s a bit more filler:

Young Root Karbunkulus gets an invitation to participate in ‘the coolest scavenger hunt of all time!’  Finally, her chance! She can escape the Aunts and prove once and for all there’s no stinkin’ “L” on her forehead! So what if she’s up against hundreds of other kids. It can’t be worse than murder ball. The rules say teams of three. Okay, okay her appointed team mates, Lian and Dwyn are screws-in-the-temples annoying…but livable…and really no worse than Goatface Kor or Hilly Punyun who, forget the panties, has a tiara for each day of the week. More rules: Can’t use magic on competitors. Doh! Oh well, at this point her magic is of the non-existent variety anyhow so…next! The first item up for grabs is the Miist of Kalliope, apparently some dead magician’s elixir. No prob. But wait. Out of hundreds of teams, there are only six of these Miists to be found? Leaving only six teams left to go after the next item? Then five, four, three, two…woah…this could get ugly….hmmm…compete and win…or go back to exfoliating those hard, crusted entities called Auntie Octavia’s feet?

Root Karbunkulus accepts the invitation. It will be a race of many, many hated things.  But it will also be a contest of courage, friendship and the rising of soul. Within it Root will learn the terrifying truth behind the mysterious items. She will also discover, to her horror that she is not a player in an innocent kid’s race but a pawn in a vicious adult game.

Q. Is writing something you’ve always enjoyed, or something you’ve started recently?

A. I have always loved to write and, in fact had a really cheesy short story published in a magazine when I was eight years old. But I took my writing into theatre for many years. And as much as I loved this medium, after awhile I just couldn’t treadmill out another budget conscious 6-person musical. I was also in a major life transition at the time. So everything was pointing me toward the new, exciting world of book writing. I’m so glad I did!

Q. Where did your ideas come from, for Dre’Amm, it’s various characters, and the Quest?

A. Oh, from all over. Sometimes I get ideas from part of a conversation or a picture or a song. I get many, many ideas from observing nature. And sometimes it can come from a TV show, like the entire premise of “The Questory”. It was when I caught a snippet of  “The Great Amazing Race” that I got the big “Aha! That’s it!” idea for the whole book.

Q. Obviously this is the first Quest, and there are more to come. Are you tackling one at a time, or have you already planned out the major arcs?

A. I absolutely have to work out the plot, all the plots ahead of time. So, before I even started book one I had to work out every major plot point and every main character’s arc for all six books first. Sometimes I have no idea what the event specifically will be, only that something has to occur that will plunge so-and-so into emotional turmoil or great joy or even death…that sort of thing.

Q. When can we expect to join in the second Quest?

A. I’m aiming for the fall …fingers crossed. Once I finish my book tour I’m going to really limit outside interactions and focus solidly on book 2. I will definitely keep you posted.

Q. You decided to start by publishing the book yourself.. where did that decision come from, and have you learnt a lot during the process?

A. I knew from the start that I wanted to go out on my own first. After years in live theatre where budgets dictated everything and, as I mentioned earlier I just couldn’t treadmill out another 6-person musical, I wanted complete freedom to explore this new field on my own. I wanted to write my book and have fun creating the book cover and I wanted to make an awesome website and book trailer. I wanted to do it all for the fun of it but also to learn the business of books. It was very worth it to me.

However, wearing that many hats, not to mention the Single Mum Crown began to take its toll. I was doing too much and getting burnt out. But the good thing is that I had managed a fair amount of success on my own, which was a great thing to bring to the tables of agents and traditional publishers.

Q. That process has included a impressive looking website and trailer.. can you tell us more about those?

A. For the website, I was very focussed on what I wanted so I researched a bunch of web designers. But most of them were just too corporate minded for me. They were more about ‘the commodity’ and they spoke way too jargon-y. Eventually I found 350 Designs, a couple of twenty year old, self-professed computer geeks who were like “Cool! This is awesome! We could do this and this and…” I knew right away they had the finger on the pulse I wanted to create.

As to the video, I had a bit of a film background and knew some of the low budget tricks like shooting lots of close-ups. I had a blast making the video and it really paid off for me, especially on my book tour. It was a great opener that the kids just loved.

You can find a pretty detailed “making of the video’ account of it on my blog.
http://rootkarbunkulus.com/blog/blog-entries/virtual-tour-day-two

Q. This feels like a story just waiting to be made into a film.. do you have ideas about who you would like to play various characters?

A. People say that all the time. I think I must write very visually. But, yeah, I would love to see it on the big screen! That’d be amazing! I have no idea who I’d like to play the kids’ roles but I would die to have Carol Burnett as one of the aunts. She was my idol growing up! And she’s coming to our city in the fall. I got fourth row tickets! Yaaayyy!

Q. Are you a reader yourself? What do you enjoy reading?

A. I have a mad, mad wonderful growing love affair with books! It runs the gamut. I’m currently reading yet another Terry Pratchett. And I finally got Coraline by Neil Gaiman, which I’m so excited to read! I also just picked up The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. I loved Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez. It goes on…and on…

Q. When you’re not busy writing, publishing or promoting, what else do you like to do?

A. That’s funny you ask because my blog today is all about that. I try to balance my writing (which can take over everything like a rebel weed!) with being a mum and a a friend, a runner of my household, a still newbie-ish gardener, a daughter, a happy single chick, a frustrated single chick…blah blah….all of which I think make me a better writer, which makes me a better “hey, let’s go camping!” mum, which makes me a better “I’m gonna attempt a soufflé” cook, which makes that glass of shiraz a perfect accompaniment, especially with a great friend….etc etc

Thank you so much for granting me this time to share with you and your readers. It was a real pleasure.

Visit the Official Site

UK readers.. a chance to win a signed copy!

Having loved The Stepmother, it was a pleasure to ask Carrie Adams the following questions..

Q. If we start at the beginning, have you always enjoyed writing, or is it something that you’ve started recently?

A. I wrote four crime novels under another name but it wasn’t until I wrote THE GODMOTHER that I feel I found my voice.

Q. Your first book, THE GODMOTHER, has been labelled ‘Chick Noir’. Can you tell us a little about what that means, and what makes this book different to ‘chick lit’?

A. A chick is a baby bird, I write for women, perhaps the publisher should have labelled it Hen Pen… Then again maybe it’s a good thing that I don’t work in marketing.

Q.Where did the character of Tessa come from.., is she based on you, or someone that you know?

A. She is a little part of almost every woman I know, we all have strengths and weaknesses, areas we excel and others where we fail.  She is me and she is the complete opposite of me… jeez women are complex!

Q. How about the other characters… do you tend to draw on people you know, or do they come from your imagination?

A. One character is taken completely from real life, the rest are made up, but I’m not telling you which one.

Q. Tessa’s story continues in THE STEPMOTHER… did you plan this from the beginning, or did it become obvious at the end of THE GODMOTHER that she had more to tell?

A. Actually, Tessa only made it into THE STEPMOTHER by the skin of her teeth.  Maybe she shouldn’t have. What was really important to me was that the reader sympathises with both women, the ex-wife (Bea) and the ‘new’ woman (Tessa), this is a story about what happens when your enemy could make the best alibi if only you’d let them.

Q. You tackle a lot of varying issues in your books, how do you ‘research’ these…do you draw on the experiences of friends, or find other people to talk to you.

A. For this book I needed the wisdom of hindsight, but hindsight can only be earned, so I talked to a lot of women who’d earned it.  The idea came a long time ago from a vicar I know who told me women burying elderly parents often ‘confessed’ that their inconsolable grief was really reserved for a secret loss many years previously – that may sound weird but I don’t want to give too much away.

Q. I could imagine your books as films… who would you like to see playing Tessa and Bea?

A. Helen McCory would be a good Bea, but she’d have to eat some buns. I’d like an unknown for Tessa, I went to some lengths to keep her physical details to a minimum so that the reader could transpose themselves on to her if they like.

Q. How long, on average, does each book take to write, starting from the initial idea?

A. Interesting question.  The publisher is always clambering for a book a year, but I think characters take more than that to solidify.  I throw out many ideas before the one that comes along so that I can see from end to end in an instant.

Q. Can you tell us a little about what you’re working on next? Are you carrying on the stories of any of these characters, or moving on to something different?

A. I’ll let you know when I know.

Q. Do you enjoy reading for relaxation? If so, which books and authors do you enjoy?

A. Reading combines my two other favourite things – bath oil and good wine, I get irritable if I don’t have a book on the go.  As for favourites, that is always such a hard question.  If I had to take a collection to a desert island Pat Conroy springs to mind, or John Irving, then again can’t go wrong with Jilly Cooper, then again I love THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO, and TO KILL A MOCKINGBORD is a must… oh I don’t know, ask me one on sport.

Official Site

Having discovered this amazing author, I was very pleased to have her visit us as a Featured Author. These are just some of the highlights…

Q. Is writing something that you’ve always done? Did you write as a child, or was it something that came later in life?

A. suppose I have always written. I’ve certainly always made up stories in my head! I used to be a big letter writer too. I worked as a freelance journalist and as an actress so words have always been my thing.

I wrote my first novel many years ago when I had 2 small children and was quietly going mad at home (as you do). I tried to get that one published but after 2 years of rejection slips I gave up. I cringe now when I think how awful that novel probably was, but there were some interesting characters in it which I “recycled” in my 2nd novel, A LIFETIME BURNING. I think because I’d lived with those characters for about 18 years, it gave ALB a sense of depth and I was able to write about those lives in some detail. (ALB covers a period of 58 years in one family.)

I didn’t try for publication again until I’d turned 50. By then I’d abandoned a career as a primary teacher after a breakdown and long period of illness. I’d taken up writing fiction just as something to do - for pleasure and as a kind of therapy. The novel I began then eventually became EMOTIONAL GEOLOGY, my first published novel. I’d joined a writers’ e-group and they encouraged me to try to get an agent. I didn’t think I’d stand a chance because EG was such a quirky book and had a 47 year old romantic heroine and this was in the heyday of Chicklit, so I sent off the manuscript with no expectation of success. But I found an agent who loved it (actually I think she loved my hero ) and then we found a publisher. So I began my 5th career (if you count motherhood) at the age of 53 when my first novel was published. It’s never too late for a new start! (Which is one of the “messages” of EMOTIONAL GEOLOGY.)

Q. Do you get time to read for pleasure? and if so who are your favourite authors, genres etc?

A. I don’t read that much for pleasure for a variety of reasons and this is a source of great regret. I write fulltime and I tend to work long days. I like to watch DVDs to relax. Reading when you’re writing can be very distracting stylistically and I tend to read anything but the contemporary fiction I write. If it’s good you get depressed, if it’s bad you get depressed (”Why is this selling in shedloads and I’m not?!”). So I like to read historical fiction (esp. Dorothy Dunnett whom I re-read all the time) and biography (I loved M Forster’s biog. of Daphne du Maurier) because there’s no overlap with my own work.

The other kind of reading I do is for research and I will always have a stack of books sitting on a table which I dip into, eg I read 3 autobiographical books written by blind people when I was researching STAR GAZING. For the book I’ve just finished drafting I read a biography of Enid Blyton. (Fascinating!)

But I do read some contemporary stuff. I recently discovered Sophie Hannah whom I’d recommend if you like psychological thrillers. I really admired Stef Penney’s TENDERNESS OF WOLVES. My favourite read so far this year is MR PIP by Lloyd Jones which I thought was brilliant. I also loved the Victorian detective romp, SILENT IN THE GRAVE by Deanna Raybourn.

Q. A lot of writers seem to come from either a publishing environment or have worked as a journalist before, do you think your background as a journalist helped when it came to trying to find an agent and publisher?

A. Another good question! You’re right - a disproportionate number of authors are ex-journalists. Publishers like journalists. They have a proven track record, a writing CV. They are used to being edited. They understand marketing. They meet deadlines. They are full of ideas. Perhaps most importantly they know people, they listen and research for a living, so their work is likely to have a certain depth.

There is also the factor that journalists are social animals and will have made a lot of contacts and publishing is a small, incestuous, back-scratching world where networking is an essential part of getting on.

None of this applied to me however! I was a freelance living in East Anglia and was never on the London circuit even though I wrote a column for IDEAL HOME for 12 years. And when I was trying to find an agent and a publisher for my first novel I was living on the Isle of Skye, my current home, so there was no London/journalism factor operating in my favour then. But I think being a journalist taught me how to write concisely, how to edit and how to think about marketing myself and my books.

As a journalist you are trying to write so that the casual reader will read to the end of your article and not turn the page in search of something more interesting. You are constantly

As a writer of fiction I aim to make it almost impossible for you to put my books down. As a journalist I wanted your eye to travel smoothly on till it got to the end of the piece. It’s the same aim and you use some of the same techniques. aware of the need to entertain and inform. I think this training pays off when you come to write fiction. You know that you absolutely must not bore your reader which means you mustn’t waste words and you must maintain their interest.

Q. Linda, what kind of research did you do to write from a blind person’s perspective?

A. I didn’t do a lot of research, Michelle. I read some books written by blind people that were very helpful (though none of them was written by anyone congenitally blind which was what I’d decided to make my heroine.) I researched on the internet, but mostly I relied on my imagination. It was just a question of removing any visual element from my thinking and allowing the other senses to come to the fore. I did do a certain amount of walking around in the dark or with my eyes closed. (I even tried that in the streets when there was no one around I would bump into!)

Penelope Przekop has just published her first work of fiction, Aberrations and has already published a non-fiction book, Six Sigma for Business Excellence.

Q: What did you do before you started writing?

A: Before I began writing, I went through the birth process, and then spent time learning to read and write. In all seriousness, I’ve been writing my entire life, but I began writing novels when I was about twenty-four. Over the last eighteen years, I’ve written two novels and a non-fiction book while working in the pharmaceutical industry. Most recently, I was a Director at Johnson & Johnson with a focus on quality management and compliance. I have a BS degree in Biology and an MS degree in Quality Assurance/Systems.

Q: Have you always wanted to write fiction?

A: Yes, I used to write short stories as a kid. Once I was about twelve, I focused on poetry and intense journal writing. Interestingly, my years of poetry and journal writing were critical to developing my literary voice. I actually had a few poems published as a teenager. The day I wrote my first prose, I took out a poem and transformed it into prose. That was my start.

Q: Where did you get the inspiration to write Aberrations?

A: My inspiration came from my own need for mother, as well as my interest as a young adult in understanding how the choices I’d made up to that point had shaped my life. I also felt compelled to write about the South, and my own experience becoming pregnant as an unwed college senior. Of course, Aberrations is fiction but there are bits and pieces of my own story hidden between the lines.

Q: Is Angel, your heroine, modeled after yourself at all, or after someone you know?

A: Angel is a mix of specific aspects of myself and my imagination. Her struggle with narcolepsy and her intense need for her mother were a great avenue to channel some of my own conflicts. Of course, like many people, I’m an extremely complex individual. This enables me to be both the same but separate from Angel. There is a part of me in every character I create. I think that’s how, as a writer, you make them real. I believe that if you continuously strive to know yourself inside and out— all aspects of yourself, all your emotions, and all your experiences— you can use that knowledge to best understand others, their motivation, and their behaviors.

Q: How long did it take you to write Aberrations?

A: I wrote about 75% of the first draft in about a year back in 1998-99. Then I spent the next eight years or so writing the last 25% and editing. During that time, I set it aside for a three-year period to complete my MS degree. Then at another point, I set it aside for about a year to write, Six Sigma for Business Excellence (McGraw-Hill). It worked out well because I was struggling with the ending for awhile. Once I picked it back up after finishing the McGraw-Hill book, I knew what I wanted to do with the ending. I finished the last 25% and started the long process of finding an agent. Keep in mind that during this entire time period, I was working full time. I also had a baby in 1999 so that also slowed me down for awhile.

Q: What was the publishing process like? How long did it take you to find a publisher?

A: For Aberrations, it took about a year to find and sign with a good agent. However, soon after he began pitching the novel, he decided to take a position with a large entertainment law firm and leave his agent work behind. I was quite discouraged because I’d had a similar experience with my first (yet to be published) novel. My agent (back around 1997) had passed away shortly after beginning to pitch the book. She had no back-up, which left me to start all over again. I began writing Aberrations soon after that.

After my Aberrations agent was out of the picture, I decided to self-publish, something I never thought I’d consider. I’m so glad now that I did because doing so led me in a convoluted way to my current publisher. After the book was released as a self-published novel, it was picked up by Greenleaf Book Group. They have a unique model that keeps authors highly engaged in the publishing process so it’s been great!

Q: Is your family supportive of your writing career?

A: Yes, I’m lucky that my husband is somewhat of a renaissance man. Over the years, he’s managed his own high-pressure career, done the laundry, cooked, etc., so that I could focus on my career and my writing. Of course, we both parent our children. I do all the running. We have a pretty good system, but like everyone, we struggle with trying to do it all. My parents are great in that they seem to understand who I am and that I need to write. They are both brave people who realize my unique experiences growing up have super-fueled my creativity, and they don’t try to stop that process. That’s love.

Q: What do you like best about writing?

A: I love how writing allows me to express myself in a way that I often can’t verbally. I have good social skills; however, there are strong internal aspects of myself that, for some reason, have never quite fit with the various facets of the external picture I seem to create with my verbal communication, appearance, mannerisms, etc. There is a disconnect, a gap, that writing fills for me, and the part that comes out in the writing is the part of me I love the most, and want to be and express. I never want to lose that; I want to continue exploring it and perfecting it, but I also hope to find other ways to fill that gap.

Q: Do you enjoy the promotional side of writing, such as public appearances and interviews?

A: Yes. Of course this side is just beginning for me with regard to Aberrations. I’ve spoken at many conferences on topics related to my nonfiction book, Six Sigma for Business Excellence. I highly enjoy public speaking and hope to do more of it. I had my first radio interview a couple of weeks ago. It was a great experience and I’m looking forward to the other radio interviews that are coming up this month. I actually thought it would be fun to have my own radio show! That’s not likely to happen but I thought it would be cool to have a talk radio show based on my blog, Aberration Nation. I could interview people about their aberrations, and we could talk about how they’ve impacted their lives. Ok, maybe I’m getting carried away; not sure my voice is right for radio work! People often think I’m a kid when they get me on the phone.

Q: What has been the best moment for you since your book was accepted for publication?

A: There have been several high points so far. The day I got the call from Greenleaf was quite exciting. The day I went to NYC to have lunch with my publicist was an incredible experience. Lastly, reading all the recent reviews has absolutely taken my breath away! Your review, in particular, got me pumped up. I danced around the house with my 8-year-old. We screamed like Mary Murphy on So You Think You Can Dance, and yelled, “She’s on the hot tamale train!”

Q: Are you writing anything new, or are you planning a new book?

A: Yes!  I’m so excited about it and can’t wait to get further into it.  Right now I’m doing a little editing on my first, unpublished novel, currently titled, Jesus Wept.  (Publishers often change titles.)  If all goes well, Jesus Wept will be the next one on the shelves. Like Aberrations, it also includes numerous themes. It delves into the intense conflicts that can result from growing up in the Bible Belt while trying to relate to the tough realities of life. It’s not a religious novel but rather one that takes an honest look at the complex role that fundamentalist religion, in particular, can play as we struggle to find a reality we can believe in and embrace as young adults—which is what we all go through in some form or another. So, my third novel is the brand new one that I’m currently planning. I don’t have a title yet but I’ve completed the majority of the research and will soon be at it full speed.  I don’t want to say too much about it since it’s in such an early stage. I can tell you that there will be a southern character in New York City, and it will compare and contrast current corporate politics with the ideals of Ellis Island while packing in numerous universal themes. I’m excited about blending my southern background and my own corporate experience to tackle this one.

Karen lives in Georgia, in the US, and sets her books in the South. She has written eight books, with the latest being The Memory of Water.

Q. Could you start by telling us a little about your current book, The Memory of Water?

A. My book, The Memory of Water, is a book about two sister, Diana and Marnie Maitland, who have been raised by a mother with  bipolar Disorder.  This creates a close bond between the sisters until the night their mother takes them out on a sailboat during a storm and the mother drowns.  but each sister harbors a secret about that night, secrets that tear the sisters apart.  The book opens 10 years after the accident when the estranged sisters are reluctantly reunited when Diana’s ex-husband, Quinn asks Marnie to return to help him with his 9-year-old son, Gil, who was in a sailing accident with his mother but is now refusing to speak. In order to help the traumatized boy, Marnie must reopen old wounds and bring the darkest memories of their past to the surface.  And she must confront Diana, before they all go under.

Q. The main theme in the book is living with bipolar, and the effect it has on everyone. What made you decide to explore this, and how did you research it?

A. I got the idea for this story several years ago when I read an article in a woman’s magazine written by two adult sisters who’d been raised by a bipolar mother.  When they were as young as 6 and 8, they had to get themselves up, dressed and fed and make their own way to school.  It was as if their mother’s illness had made her abdicate her responsibilities and as a mother of two myself, this story haunted me.  I wanted to explore the far-reaching consequences on a family marked with mental illness, and the bonds it can either create or destroy.

I took an Abnormal Psychology class when I was in college and I used the textbooks to do some background research on Bipolar Disorder.  I also used the Internet to discover the newest ways to treat the disease as well as anything new in the areas of treatment and prevention.

Q. The two sisters in the book have a very close, if complex relationship. Is this based on your own experiences?

A. No, unfortunately.  As much as I always wished for a sister, I was raised with three brothers.  But I spent a lifetime studying the relationship of friends with sisters and also of my mother (who is the oldest of five girls) and her four.  My happiest childhood memories are of listening to my mother chatting with my aunts and her mother around my grandmother’s kitchen table.

Q. Sailing is a prominent feature, are you a sailor yourself?

A. Not at all!  The two sisters in the book, Marnie and Diana Maitland, were raised by the ocean and I figured it would be a logical step to make at least one of them an avid sailor.  I’m a firm believer in writing what you know—but I also like to add that you should also write about something you have an interest in.  Since I had never set foot on a sailboat before writing this book but have always found the subject interesting, I knew that this book would be research-intensive but rewarding, too.  I read a lot on the subject and took sailing lessons.  I still wouldn’t call myself a proficient sailor, but I learned enough to be able to write about sailing and the passion it inspires in my characters.

Q. Is writing something you’ve always enjoyed doing?

A. I have to laugh because sometimes—especially when I’m crunching towards a deadline—I don’t find anything enjoyable about writing!  Even though I was always told by my teachers from an early age that I should write. I hated the actual process of writing.  It wasn’t until I was a sophomore in high school and found that my fingers on a keyboard could keep up with my thoughts, that I truly began to enjoy writing.

Q. What else have you written, have you stayed in the same genre, or tried anything different?

A. I have written a time-travel, an historical romance, two contemporary romances and four women’s fiction novels.  I think it’s safe to say that I’ve tried different genres!  My November 2008 release, The House on Tradd Street is a sort of paranormal mystery set in Charleston, South Carolina—what I’m calling my ‘Sixth Sense Meets Moonlighting’ book.  However, despite the genre written on the spine of my books, I think my readers will recognize them all as a ‘Karen White’ book—a Southern-set family drama peopled with characters you care about who will make you laugh and make you cry, with a little bit of romance and a dash of mystery thrown in to spice it all up.

Q. Are your books all set in places that you personally know? If so, do you find this easier to write?

A. Only about half of my books have been set in actual places—and none of them settings I’ve lived in or have been overly familiar with.  The Color of Light and The Memory of Water were both set in the South Carolina Lowcountry—and area in which I vacation frequently and am enthralled with.  The other books are set around the South because that is the land and people I’m familiar with.  I love making up Southern towns and their inhabitants—it gives me a lot more leeway when I don’t have to follow maps and geographical restrictions when using a real location.

Q. You call your writing ‘grit lit’.. can you explain more about what you mean by that?

A. I borrowed the term ‘grit lit’ from Mary Kay Andrews.  I thought it was a nice turn on the ‘chick-lit’ phrase and basically means stories of and about the South.

Q. Can you tell us a little about what is next for you, what are you working on at the moment?

A. As I mentioned above, my next book, The House on Tradd Street will be released by New American Library in November, 2008.  Following that book, my next release will be The Lost Hours , which is set in Savannah, Georgia on a horse farm and will be published in May 2009.  That’s the book that I’m working on now and will (hopefully!) have finished by my deadline on September 1st.  And then in November 2009, the sequel to The House on Tradd Street will be released.  I have two more books contracted beyond that, but they’re only a twinkle in my eye at the moment. <g>

Q. Do you also enjoy reading for pleasure? Who are some of your favourite authors?

A. I couldn’t imagine being a writer without also being a reader!  I read constantly so I’ll throw out the names of some of my favorites but please know that there’s many more where this list came from!  Margaret Mitchell, Diana Gabaldon, Khaled Hosseini, Jodi Picoult, Nelson DeMille, Lauren Willig, Eloisa James, Mary Balogh, Susan Crandall, Julia Quinn and many, many, many more!

Official Site

Although I’ve read quite a few vampire books, Derek takes a different approach, and his first book was a little different to what I used to. It proved, however, to be a thrilling read.

Derek tells us a little more..

Q. Can you start by telling a little about your first novel, Vampire Apocalypse: A World Torn Asunder?

A. Well, imagine a world where our most precious resources have dried up and communities are left to fend for themselves. Add to this the fact that these communities only take those who will contribure most to their community and the rest are left to struggle. Oh, and add in the fact that vampires have taken this opportunity to become dominant. And that’s all in the Prologue.

Q. Did the story develop from wanting to write about vampires.. or did the idea of a war come first?

A. The idea had been mulling around my mind for some time. I would think through whole scenes, and write them only to put them away. Then one day I decided that I should start to put it all together and see where it led. I needed a protaganist that was all powerful but I needed a good enough reason for them waiting until now to make their move. The world’s dwindling resources is topical at the moment so it fits in nicely.

Q. Did you always intend for it to be a series, or did that come after the first book was written?

A. To be honest I wondered if I could get to the end of the book, let alone a series. The scope is huge, of course, but I was concentrating on a small area within a larger world. The first book was centred around one community and one cabal of vampires. The second one expands that a little but including the surrounding States and the third …well that would be telling.

Q. What can we expect to see in the next books.. where are you taking the story?

A. Descent into Chaos kicks the story into high gear. The rebels pull themselves from the wreckage of their base only to find that defeating one vampire Lord is only the beginning.

They have resource problems, food problems and internal political problems as their community grows with the sudden influx of Nero’s prisoners. They are surrounded by States where the Vampire political situation is far from stable. They discover another problem with the serum that throws all their plans into the air and sets the spark that threatens to ignite the whole area into War.

This book is bigger than the last one, it has more action and the characters start to reveal many of the details that were only touched upon in the first book. Trust me, if you liked the first one you will love this one.

The third book will expand even further on these themes, at least for those characters still left…

The second book, Descent into Chaos is already available for pre-order and I would expect to see it shipping early September. The third book, Fallout, will be early 2009 I imagine.

Q. What made you decide to make your vampires so different from the ones that seem so popular in books today?

A. Basically I got sick of reading about charming and sensual dead creatures. In my mind vampires are ferocious creatures with no remorse. In their very essence they are dead, or undead, so a huge change has taken place. How can passion effect a creature whose blood merely ambles through their bodies? Their very values are different as well, we are food to them. They are so powerful that we are beneath their consideration. They just happen to have this fatal flaw that inhibits their ability to rule. They cannot protect themsleves during the hours of daylight. This is a pretty big flaw and one which has forced them to remian in the shadows.

Q. I understand that we may see you story on the big screen? What’s the latest on that?

A. Things seem to be progressing really well. The script, penned by two very talented filmmakers, Richard Finney and Franklin Guerrero, is written and ready to go. I’ve been fortunate enough to have had an opportunity to read it and I’m delighted with their adaptation of VA  Recently, producer Robert Lawrence (Die Hard with a Vengence, Clueless, The Last Castle) has come on board.

Q. So, who do you want to see playing your main characters?

A. I don’t care to be honest. There’s a lot to be said for using unknown actors as they can grow into the role but if Brad Pitt’s available then I have no problem with that.

Q. Have you always enjoyed writing, and what else have you done?

A. Yes I have, though there are few outlets in Ireland for the kind of fiction I like. I have written three other novels at this point. ‘Who wants to Live Forever’ is a mystery/end of the world storyline, ‘The Island’ is a zombie novel with a difference and ‘The HMS Swift Adventures’ which cover stories set in the time of the Napoleonic wars, with a supernatural element thrown in.

Q. Do you get any time to read for pleasure? Who are some of your favourite authors?

A. I am always reading. I love Graham Masterton, James Herbert and early Stephen King. Of the newer authors I particularly like Jonathon Mayberry.

Q. Apart from the Vampire Apocalypse series, do you have anything else planned.. what can we expect next?

A. Well, that depends. I have a few ideas for another Vampire Apocalypse novel but I would love to do another HMS Swift story. I have another idea for a new series but it’s too early to say anything at this point. It really depends on how the sales go and whether the other books are taken up or not. One thing is certain though, there will be another book.

Official Site

Gregory Maguire is the author of a range of books for adults and children. His novel Wicked has been transformed into a hit West End musical.

Q. For those who may not have heard of you, can you briefly tell us a little about your books. How would you describe them?

A. Some people say my books are retellings, and I think that makes me sound like a translator. What I do admit to, with great pleasure, is reintroducing people to familiar stories, often from childhood, with new information, a new spin, to show them that the old familiar characters are still full of juice and sass, the old situations still valid and even shocking.Q. I would imagine that you’re now best known for Wicked. How did it feel, seeing it as a stage musical?

A. One of my first vocational hopes was to work in the theatre. When I was in grade school I wrote and produced plays that were put on for audiences in the school. I had no adult supervision but lots of adult approval, and early hopes for me were that I would go into the theatre. (Probably the hopes were that I would go away into the theatre, or into prison, or into the seminary…) So for WICKED to hit the boards as a big important musical was a kind of childhood dream come true, even if my original vision of the story was fiction (and at its heart my conception of the truest WICKED remains as a novel, not the lovely and fun play it has become).

Q. How about your other books, are there others that you would like to see either on the stage, or on the big screen?

A. There was some interest recently in putting CONFESSIONS OF AN UGLY STEPSISTER into an opera. I would enjoy that hugely! Indeed, once I thought it might be a musical and I began to write lyrics for it out of a benighted sense of privilege. CONFESSIONS was filmed by ABC TV for a movie, starring Stockard Channing and Jonathan Pryce, and I enjoyed that experience hugely, too.

Q. What first triggered you to start writing, and what age were you? Were those early writings published?

A. I came from a lower middle class family that was governed by strict and uncompromising parents. My dad wrote for the newspapers, and my stepmother, who raised me, was a poet. By example they showed an enthusiasm for and interest in the worth of good writing, and of reading as an entertainment, and so I wrote from childhood. My first novel for children was published in the US in 1978 and in the UK (by Chatto and Windus) in 1979.

Q. Where else do you think your life may have taken you if you hadn’t become a successful author?

A. Since part of my family is Greek, I had high hopes of running what in the States we would call a greasy Greek diner. I also had aspirations toward being an architect until I learned how much math one needed to master. I was very aware from earliest days that I wanted to be self-employed and in one or another branch of the arts, either as a painter or a musician, an actor or a novelist. The only branch of arts that seemed beyond me was dance, as I have the legs of a turtle.

Q. You’ve also written a number of children’s books.. could you tell us a little about them?

A. I began my career publishing books for children, and from 1978 until WICKED was published in 1995 I had published a dozen novels and picture books. None of them had made much of a splash. In recent years I have done a series of comic novels with titles like SEVEN SPIDERS SPINNING, SIX HAUNTED HAIRDOS, FIVE ALIEN ELVES, FOUR STUPID CUPIDS, etc. But I am proudest of a children’s book called WHAT-THE-DICKENS: THE STORY OF A ROGUE TOOTH FAIRY. It marries my affection and high regard for children with the themes and elements I have brought to my adult novels. It will be published in the United Kingdom sometime soon, I’m told.

Q. Which do you enjoy writing more, books for adults, or for children?

A. Writing for children is harder. Children are so bestial and impatient. With an adult audience I can linger lovingly over a description or a rumination, and know that if one reader doesn’t care for it, he or she will hang on until the next exciting bit, usually. A child reader has no such resources and no politeness to speak of, and will happily chuck the offending volume at my noggin and go outdoors and play instead. That makes me very skittish about writing for kids, and in some ways I think makes me try harder.

Q. Out of all your books, do you have any favourites, or have you enjoyed them all?

A. In that the commercial success of WICKED has given me the funds with which I could feel comfortable enough to adopt my own three children, WICKED has to be my favourite. But my newest books are the ones closest to bloom, so the sweetest in my senses. WHAT-THE-DICKENS, mentioned above, and this autumn’s A LION AMONG MEN. That said, readers have very much enjoyed CONFESSIONS OF AN UGLY STEPSISTER and I think next to WICKED it is the book most often cited by readers in autograph lines as their favourite. It is my second-to-WICKED bestseller, too.

Q. Do you enjoy reading yourself? Who are some of your favourite books or authors?

A. I’d be avoiding the obvious if I didn’t say I had been mesmerized by Philip Pullman’s HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy. Interestingly I have most often enjoyed reading English novelists—not always contemporary. Among my favourite books of all time are MISTRESS MASHAM’S REPOSE and THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING by T. H. White; QUEEN OF THE TAMBOURINE by Jane Gardam; UNLEAVING by Jill Paton Walsh; THE TOWERS OF TREBIZOND by Rose Macaulay; and THE REALMS OF GOLD by Margaret Drabble. I admire Amis and McKeon and that lot, but here are some recent favourites among American writers: Stona Fitch’s SENSELESS, Ron Hansen’s MARIETTE IN ECSTACY and HITLER’S NIECE, and Jess Walter’s CITIZEN VINCE. I also found Christopher Moore’s farcical LAMB oddly moving as well as a comic maelstrom of a novel.

Q. What are you promoting at the moment, and can you tell us anything about what is coming next?

A. I mention above A LION AMONG MEN, which is the third volume in the proposed quartet to be known as THE WICKED YEARS. The first three books are WICKED, SON OF A WITCH, and A LION AMONG MEN. I have just begun to sketch out ideas for the fourth and final volume.

Official Site

I came across Imogen’s site whilst following some blog links, and I was immediately hooked. Her books are all available on her site, some as free reads.

Q. To begin with, can you tell us a little about what you write?

A. With pleasure! I write crossover fiction—that is, fiction that can be enjoyed by young adults and adults. I find myself peculiarly incapable of writing anything set in the real world, so my writing always has something ‘other’ about it—whether that’s some kind of future world, fantasy world, or our world with a side order of weird.

Q. How would you say that your YA fiction varies from that aimed at adults, or do you think they all cross over?

A. I think well-written YA fiction always has the potential to cross over. If something is good, then it continues to be good whatever age you are. And well-written adult fiction only lacks that potential when it deals with themes in a manner that may be a bit much for younger readers.

My YA fiction is mostly labelled that way because my protagonists tend to be young—late teens, generally. I also avoid explicit sex or graphic violence. But that’s mostly because I don’t like writing them!

Q. Where do you get your inspiration from, for both your stories, and your characters?

A. My favourite way of writing a story is to take a well-known story and re-imagine it. I like the feeling of taking a framework and adding my own bits—or removing the bits I don’t like. Ha ha, you will have a happy ending.

Normally, I start writing the story and the characters kind of float their way into it. To be honest, they’re probably a horrible mishmash of bits of my own psyche mixed with bits of everyone else I know—I just hope I disguise them well enough!

Q. Which was your first published story?

A. Falling. I sent it off to Drollerie Press, and heard back that same day that the editor ‘loved Rapunzel’ (on which Falling is based) and was looking forward to reading it. Which was encouraging, of course, but painful experience has led me not to pin too much on that kind of comment. Then I opened up my email the next morning to find that the editor had read it, loved it, and wanted to offer a contract. At which point I cried.

Q. The dreaded question - do you have a favourite?!

A. Hah! The favourite is always the one I’ve just finished. So at the moment it’s Dust and Dead Roses, my Sleeping Beauty ghost story. I think possibly I’m proudest of Frayed Tapestry, though.

Q. Can you tell us a little about why your publications are as ebooks? What do you see as their main advantages and disadvantages?

A. Well, the stories I’ve had published so far are too short for print—they’d be leaflets, not books! I could send them to magazines, but I really like having them published as separate books, each with their own cover (I love my publisher’s cover art).

One of the advantages for me, as an author, is that they’re constantly—and easily—available. If someone reads one of my stories and wants to read more, they can go straight to my publisher’s website and buy another. Whereas with a magazine, once the current issue has been superseded by the next, my story’s gone.

It also seems to me that the ebook market is more willing to experiment with weird cross-genre books. It doesn’t give the (sometimes-huge) advances of large print publishers, so there’s no pressure to sell enormous amounts in order to earn out your advance. And because there’s less cost involved in producing ebooks, the company isn’t risking bankruptcy if a book doesn’t sell as well as expected. Which translates to more freedom for the authors.

As to disadvantages, the biggest disadvantage, for me, is that ebooks are still in their infancy. With the majority of people to whom I talk, I can’t just tell them I’ve got a book published, I have to give them a whole explanation of what ebooks are, how you buy them, how you read them, why my publisher isn’t publishing them as ‘real books’ (true-life quote). And, of course, not everyone has internet access. Which leads to a more serious concern: in writing ebooks, I’m writing for the reasonably well-off. Books shouldn’t be a preserve of the relatively wealthy (ie. those able to afford computers and internet access). They should be available to everyone, whatever their financial situation. And with ebooks, they’re not.

Q. You run your website, and your blog, and offer free short stories on there.. do you enjoy this type of promotion? Do you think it’s important these days to have an online presence?

A. Ah, I love my website and blog. And yes, I do enjoy running them. I like fiddling with html code, I like getting feedback on my free reads, and I like chatting with people via my blog.

As a reader, when I discover a new author—or hear about an author I might enjoy—one of the first things I do is search for their website. I’m sure some big-name authors don’t need them for promotional purposes—I think we’d all know who JK Rowling was, website or not—but I’m just a little-name author and I can’t afford to pass up internet advertisement!

I was thrilled to death recently. Frayed Tapestry had just gone on sale, and Dust and Dead Roses was available to read for free in Drollerie Press’s ezine. And I got bunches more reader feedback on Dust and Dead Roses than I did on Frayed Tapestry. And really, although royalties are extremely useful, I write the books for readers, not for money, so I was very happy.

Q. Moving onto you, do you enjoy reading yourself, for relaxation? Who are some of your favourite authors?

A. Oh, all the time! My ideal world would include a weekly Amazon delivery. At the top of my list are Diana Wynne Jones, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Rumer Godden, Elizabeth Goudge, Mary Stewart, JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis. If you’re familiar with their work you’ll know that list comprises authors of—amongst other things—young adult fiction, fantasy and romance, so I think it’s fairly clear who I’ve been inspired by!

Q. How about your children, have they picked up the ‘reading bug’? How about writing.. have they shown any interest there?

A. It’s been lovely to watch my children get bitten by the reading bug. They both have that ability to go completely deaf when they’re reading, and to rush through dinner so they can get back to their book.

As far as writing goes, their teachers tell me their creative writing work is excellent (yeah!), but that in factual-based work they tend to go too creative, which means they don’t keep to the stricter parameters they’re supposed to. Um, is it bad to be really proud of this?

Q. Finally, what are you working on at the moment, and what are your aims for the rest of this year?

A. Right now, I’m working on a science fiction version of Little Red Riding Hood. After that, as well as some more short stories for Drollerie Press, I’m going to be working on a young adult novel. It’s tentatively named Waterworld, and so far I’ve been describing it as ‘Dirty Dancing—with mutants’. Which I think is an excellent concept, although I do admit it sounds a little odd.

Ideally, I’d like to find an agent for this book, and aim at the big print publishers. And win literary prizes, and get thousands of readers. And have that weekly Amazon delivery.

Official Site | My Review

These are the first questions and answers from when Kate was a Featured Author on the forum..

Q. I have to ask the obvious.. were you a Brownie yourself?

A. No, Michelle, actually I wasn’t a Brownie, which is probably why I felt the need to write the book…we lived abroad for a while when I was little - my dad was involved in the early development of computers, back in the days when they worked on multi-coloured ‘punch cards’ - and in our area of Holland, there were no Brownie Packs. I was quite homesick and used to read all the comics and books from home (Tammy and Jinty, anyone? Plus lots of my mum’s Jean Plaidy) and I used to love the idea of being a Brownie: all the badges and the games.

We came back to the UK when I was 11 so it was too late to be a Brownie. I joined the Guides and used to help out in a Brownie Pack but to be honest, the Guides were a bit more serious than Brownies…and I also discovered that I HATED camping.

Then a couple of years ago I was talking to some friends about how hard it is to get a sense of progress when you’re an adult - and how nice it’d be if you got a Badge when you managed a week of detox, or did dull stuff like sorting out your overdraft. So the idea came partly from that and partly from that sense that remembering what you loved doing aged 8 could hold the key to happiness as a grown-up. I adored reading and writing, for example, and so being able to write books has made me so much happier than my previous job…

Q. How did you feel when you made that move away from your previous job, and into full time writing?

A. Well, it’s almost exactly a year now since I took that big step, and it was something I’d been longing to do for ages. I think in a way, the fact that I hadn’t been able to afford to give up the day job before that was a good thing, in that I was used to the highs (and lows) of being a published author before that.

It’s mainly a lovely, lovely thing to do: a real privilege to be paid to make up stories. I think my writing’s improved, too, because I have more time to plan and can really go hell for leather on a story rather than having to be interrupted by little things like going into the office! I also re-edit much more now than I did with my first book, and so I have the time to do it - rather than being told off by my boyfriend for working at weekends/past midnight all the time.

It can be quite an isolated existence, of course, and so I have to see escaping from my laptop for coffee with a friend, or a trip to a museum, as part of the job: a replacement for gossipy work lunches! And of course, when a book’s not going quite so well, it can be tough because there’s nothing else to distract me (in the past, I could always think, ‘oh well, at least I’m being paid my salary every month.’). After all, no-one’s going to write the book for me!

But overall I am so lucky and wouldn’t swap it for the world!

Q. Which authors give you inspiration (if any) and who do you like to read for pleasure when you get time?

A. I’m inspired by good writing in all genres: I love comic fiction, especially novels by David Lodge, David Nobbs, Mavis Cheek and Laurie Graham (though with most of those authors I prefer their earlier books…if that doesn’t sound too much like those people who talk about music and say they only like the albums before they were discovered!). I like some of the classics, too, including Wilkie Collins and Emily Bronte.

I do enjoy other ‘chick lit’ authors - though I’ve never been fond of the label - my favourites are Lisa Jewell, Jojo Moyes and Elizabeth Buchan. I’m sure I am forgetting lots of others though! One of the exciting bits about being published has been meeting lots of my literary idols…

When I’m in search of comfort reading, I love returning to children’s books I used to devour as a kid: the Dark is Rising Trilogy by Susan Cooper, the Bagthorpe Saga books by Helen Cresswell, pretty much anything by Noel Streatfeild (but especially Ballet Shoes and The Painted Garden), Lorna Hill’s Ballet books (I was rubbish at ballet, but a girl could dream) and the wonderful I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (which I actually didn’t discover until I was an adult). One day I’d love to write children’s books, too.

When I’m midway through writing a book, though, I tend to gravitate towards non-fiction as I’m worried about ‘catching’ someone else’s writing style: so I’m currently loving Andrew Marr’s Modern History of Britain. On my bedside table there are also two guidebooks to China (am hopefully going there next month), Can Any Mother Help Me? (a non-fiction book about a kind of magazine made up of letters between different women during the war and afterwards), and a gorgeous photographic book about window dressing (because I am currently writing a novel about Secret Shopping).

I also love poring over the Mr and Mrs Smith books and dreaming of the day when one of the hotels will offer me a writer-in-residence position…

To read the rest, visit the thread.

Stuart joined us as a Featured Author, and here are a few of the questions and answers:

Q. Who inspires you, scares you?

A. I think the people who really inspire me are writers like R.D.Wingfield (sadly no longer with us, but he wrote the books A TOUCH OF FROST were based on), Val McDermid, Mark Billingham, and Larry Niven believe it or not.

The only person who scares me - writer or otherwise - is me. I know what actually goes on inside my head…

Q. I first read ‘Cold Granite’ last year after it was chosen as a read in my reading group and have since gone on myself to read your other two books ‘Dying Light’ and ‘Broken Skin’ and I thoroughly enjoyed reading all three of them. Was wondering if you have any plans to write more?

A. Glad you liked them! And yes, I do indeed have another one in the pipeline, no so much on the horizon as bearing down on me like a Sumo wrestler in spandex pants. I’m editing the fourth Logan McRae book at the moment and I’ve got about… 4, maybe 5 days more to do, then there’ll be a huge chunk of typing up to do.

FLESH HOUSE (as it’s going to be called) will be out in the UK in May 2008. And after that I’ve got a contract for another two Logan books with HarperCollins, so I’m still going to be doing this in 2010.

After that, I’m thinking about becoming a plumber.

Q. Cold Granite is the only one I have read although hubby enjoyed your second too. We love the sweetie eating police boss. What made you do that? And why did you make the weather so bad?

A. Ah, the good old weather question ;}# I was living in Kingswells when I started writing COLD GRANITE - it was the dead of winter and every time I looked out the window, ready to start the next scene it was either hammering down, drizzling, or snowing fit to burst. And that was what I put into the book. I don’t think we’ve had a winter quite that crummy since, but that year it was sodding awful.

As for DI Insch, his sweetie addiction just came about by accident while I was writing him. Now I use it as an excuse to put in all the sweets I remember loving from my childhood. I’ve recently discovered a wee sweetie shop in the nearest town that does old-fashioned Scottish confectionery, so look out for ’soor plooms’, ‘tatties’ and ‘granny sookers’ making their appearance.

Q. Are any of the characters you write based on anyone you know…

A. A couple are, Kell, but not until the third book - I was asked if I’d auction off a character for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and I thought I’d have a bit of fun with other people I know.

So PC John Rickards is based on… John Rickards (writes very good crime novels for Penguin*) with only a few minor changes to make him work better in the story. Another friend, Alex Clark, became Zander Clark (I took liberties with him and made him a pornographer in the book).

Everyone else probably have small slivers of other people I know / meet at events / sit within earshot of in the pub… But it’s not a conscious thing.

Q. Do you enjoy things like books signings / readings / meeting your fans?

A.  I do enjoy meeting the people who buy the books. Signings can be a hit or miss thing - I once sat in the lobby of a draughty Costco in Glasgow for hours and hours, listening to the rain hammering on the roof, and only managed to shift about three books. Mind you, things like that do keep you from getting a big head, I suppose.

Readings depend very much on the audience. If you get a good audience then it’s a lot of fun, if you get a load of people who just sit there like poached fish it becomes a struggle to get any sort of atmosphere going. Luckily that doesn’t happen too often.

Reading groups are always fun. Especially as there’s usually someone who turns up that hated something. Ah, the joys ;}#

To read the rest of the discussion, visit the thread.