Books for kids, teens, & those who are young at heart

Tag: Interview (Page 1 of 2)

Local Authors Day and an Interview

Today a great event will be taking place at the Milford, CT Public Library at 5:00 p.m. for Local Authors Day as Milford celebrates its 375th anniversary. I was going to be there selling signed copies of Elixir Bound, chatting about books and stuff, and giving out bookmarks, but baby boy #2 arrived late Monday night. We are both doing well, but I will not be attending the event. Don’t worry, I’ll post more about this once I wrap my head around having a new baby around.

In the meantime catch an interview of me at A Thousand Words A Million Books blog, along with a review of Elixir Bound and a giveaway. If you’re interested, some other guest posts and interviews I’ve done lately include a post on the seeds of inspiration for one of works in progress BLACK BUTTERFLY over at J.Q. Rose’s blog, one about my favorite writing spaces on the MuseItUp Tween and YA blog, an author interview on The Masquerade Crew, and a post about Sary in the real world on Meradeth Houston’s blog.

What have you all been up to lately? Any thoughts on what you’d like me to write about on the blog this summer? I’ll have an office update and probably another couple of posts in the Females in YA series, but I’m open to suggestions. 🙂

Meet Ace Hansen Author of Julius Caesar Brown and the Green Gas Mystery

Today I’m so pleased to welcome a very unusual guest: a writer alien! Ace Hansen (who happens to be green) wrote the hilarious MG novel Julius Caesar Brown the Green Gas Mystery (see my Goodreads review here). Welcome, Ace!

julius caesar brown and the green gas mystery 200x300So exactly how does a green alien get into the profession of writing?

He chooses to inhabit the body of an Earth host who is in the profession of writing. Should have chosen a gummy worm maker, but I didn’t know about them at the time.

I may have read that you like gummy worms…what’s your favorite flavor?

The ones with red. Red and white. Red and yellow. Red and orange. Red and green. But I’ll eat any and all of them. No problem.

How about favorite color (I notice there seems to be a lot of green in your life)?

Purple. I really love purple. All kinds of purple. Haven’t you seen my sweater?

If you were stranded on a desert island and could only bring two books and one movie, what would you bring?

No candy? Are you kidding me? One movie? E.T. I’m in love. Two books? Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The BFG both by that tall Earth man, Roald Dahl.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

The ability to make humans laugh hysterically on command.

What is something funny/weird/exceptional about yourself that you don’t normally share with others in an interview?

I can say the alphabet backwards in Spanish. And I’ve tasted vomit. Don’t be shocked! Everybody has, at least everyone who’s thrown up. ^_^

And your final challenge if you should accept it…using the magnetic refrigerator poetry set, please write up a little piece of poetry or prose from these words.

#1        Sky you are but a spy

                                                All day

                                                            Seeing us nuts

#2        Imagine

                         Another perfect chance

                                                               Dream green!

#3        Read

                        Play more

                                           Live life like fire

Julius Caesar Brown and the Green Gas Mystery blurb:

The world is farting green! Who will stop the green gas crisis?

When a mysterious green gas crisis breaks wind, the Global Air Group (GAG) offers a million-dollar prize to the first person to discover the cause. Julius Caesar Brown dreams of winning the cash so he can pay off Jake the Snake, the blackmailing bully who threatens to ruin his chances with the cutest girl in fifth grade. But Julius can barely pass a math test, let alone solve an international scientific mystery. What he needs is money. Fast. His mom volunteers him to help the Zombie Lady. Yeah. The crazy woman down the street who every kid knows eats boys’ brains. But Miss Crabtree’s no zombie. And winning the million-dollar prize may not be as far-fetched as Julius once thought.

If you’d like to purchase JULIUS CAESAR BROWN AND THE GREEN GAS MYSTERY it’s available as an ebook now at MuseItUpAmazonBarnes & Noble, and Kobo, and is coming in print Fall 2013.

crazy alienAbout the Author:

Ace Hansen, the smartest green alien in the Milky Way Galaxy

If you’d like to learn more about Ace (of course you do!) you can find him on: Ace Hansen’s WebsiteTwitterFacebook.

Meet Jeff Chapman Author of Highway 24

While I’m off doing my first ever school visit, Jeff Chapman is holding down the fort (ummm, blog) with an interview about his ghost story Highway 24 (see my Goodreads review here). Welcome, Jeff!

Highway 24 333x500What made you want to become a writer?

I don’t know. I loved reading from a young age and it seemed like a natural progression to writing your own stories. I have a compulsion to write but I haven’t always been so serious about it. A few years ago I was diagnosed with cancer. Fortunately it was caught very early. Nothing wakes you up to your mortality like a brush with a potentially fatal disease. At that point I decided if I wanted to be a writer I should become serious about it because the clock is ticking.

What books have had the most influence on you as a writer?

John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers. The first time I read that book, I gave up writing for awhile. I was making many of the mistakes he talks about. I came back to it later and found I wasn’t making those mistakes any more. I guess the lessons from the first reading had taken root.

If you were stranded on a desert island and could only bring two books and one movie, what would you bring?

I think everyone gets to bring the Bible to these islands or maybe it’s already there. My two books would beThe Lord of the Rings (I could read that over and over again and never get bored) and Crime and Punishment (another long book that you can chew on for a long time. It also reminds me of winter. I don’t like to be hot). For a movie, that would be a tossup between Das Boot (I like submarines) and The French Lieutenant’s Woman (I’m a sucker for costume dramas).

What was the hardest part of writing this book for you? And on the flip side what was the easiest?

I don’t know how many times I revised/rewrote the first section (Paul’s initial encounter with the ghost). The first part of story sets the tone for the rest of it so it’s important to get it right and sometimes very hard. The easiest parts were the secondary characters: the preacher and the caretaker at the cemetery. Those two came to me fully formed. All I had to do was transcribe what they were saying.

Have you ever had a paranormal experience yourself?

No, I haven’t. Not sure if I want to. But I have driven on some lonely highways and they are definitely creepy at night.

What is something funny/weird/exceptional about yourself that you don’t normally share with others in an interview?

I love cats. I had three when I was growing up and I have two now. Cats and I connect. We seem to understand each other.

And here’s the fun part…below are three list of words from the magnetic refrigerator poetry set…if you so choose, please write up a little piece of poetry or prose from these words.

There’s a ground squirrel in the attic, digging for the nut of our skeletons that we keep beneath the shadows of the steps. I step in a cold puddle of sour take out. I give up the climb. He will find not but the dark manuscript of my soul up there and the dead dancing in a breeze. Why investigate? A spider will manacle him.

Highway 24 blurb:

On a lonely country highway, a young travelling salesman runs down a teenage girl. It was an accident. Why she was wandering around on a highway in a pink, formal dress, he can’t imagine. There’s no doubt she’s dead. Fear takes over and he flees the scene, absently taking one of her shoes with him. An old memory, something familiar about that shoe, struggles to surface. As he speeds away from the accident, he thinks his nightmare can’t get any worse, until he sees a pair of green eyes in his rear-view mirror. The shoe and those eyes lead him to a small town where he meets an all too knowing preacher and a sheriff obsessed with the girl’s tragic demise. As Paul digs deeper into the mystery of the girl and her shoe, he comes face-to-face with a dark secret from his father’s past.

Highway 24 is available at the MuseItUp bookstore, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other ebook retailers.

Jeff_chapman-headshot-small-80x109About the author:

Jeff Chapman writes software by day and speculative fiction when he should be sleeping. His tales range from fantasy to horror and they don’t all end badly. He lives with his wife, children, and cats in a house with more books than bookshelf space. You can find him musing about words and fiction at jeffchapmanwriter.blogspot.com.

Meet Tammy Lowe Author of The Acadian Secret

Please welcome fellow Muser Tammy Lowe and her tween adventure The Acadian Secret to the blog today.

The Acadian Secret 200x300Thanks for having me on your blog Katie.

What made you want to become a writer?

Oh, this will no doubt illustrate what a dork I am.

As a kid, I loved to read books and watch shows like Little House on the Prairie and Anne of Green Gables.  I loved anything set in the “olden days”.

When I was about ten years old, I began to wonder about time travel.  My biggest wish was that I’d end up back in the pioneer era.  I wanted to go and hang out with spoiled Nellie Olsen.  I don’t remember why I wished for Nellie over Laura Ingalls, but I think it had something to do with the fact that her parents owned the candy shop.

I had it all figured out.  I didn’t want to live in the 18th or 19th century; I’d miss my family too much. And I can’t live without modern comforts.  I wanted the freedom to travel back and forth through time.

My wish to time travel was so strong; I even dressed the part, as much as I could, without raising anyone’s suspicions.  I wore dresses to school every day, when all my friends wore jeans and t-shirts. I had to be prepared just in case it worked and I was whisked through time. That summer, I even begged my mom to buy me a bonnet. She did. I wore that white bonnet everywhere. If I ended up in Walnut Grove or Avonlea, I was prepared.

By the sixth grade I was old enough to realize that time travel probably wasn’t going to be a reality for me, so I decided when I grew up, I’d write a story about a girl who could travel back and forth through time.

What books had the most influence on you while you were growing up?

I remember reading Judy Blume books under the blankets with a flashlight, well past my bedtime. I felt like such an adult as I read, Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret.

So many authors influenced me when I was a young girl, from Roald Dahl and L.M. Montgomery to Stephen King and Sidney Sheldon.

If you were stranded on a desert island and could only bring two books and one movie, what would you bring?

Easy question!  My two books would be Anne of Green Gables and Jane Eyre.  The movie would be The Sound of Music.

And, if you weren’t peeking…I’d try and sneak in a copy of The Hunger Games too.

What is your favorite part of the writing process? What is your least favorite part?

The first draft is my least favourite part of the writing process. I find it hard trying to get the ideas out of my head and onto the page.  I love to go back and polish it up in the editing stages.

What is the single best piece of advice you have for aspiring authors?

When you “think” you are finished your novel, put it away for at least six weeks and forget about it.  When the time comes to take it out again, sit back and re-read the entire manuscript. Take notes. You will see a million mistakes and plot holes. Everything that isn’t working will jump out at you. It will be a cringe-worthy read, but you’ll be glad you put it away instead of sending it out.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

I’d love to be able to time travel.

And fly.

And have an invisibility cloak.

And…oh, just one?  *grin*

What is something funny/weird/exceptional about yourself that you don’t normally share with others in an interview?

In a scene out of a rom-com, I was on a date with my boyfriend (who is now my husband).  One summer afternoon, he took me out on his boat and down the Niagara River.  We stopped for a romantic little lunch on the patio of a restaurant overlooking the water.

He tied his boat up to the dock, held out his hand and helped me climb out.  We walked up to the patio, took a seat, and ordered lunch.  Everything was perfect.

Little did we know there was police surveillance on the fancy boat we had parked next to.

And little did we know police thought WE had just walked off of that boat.

So, we are enjoying lunch, when I clue in that all around us, something is going on.  I watch unmarked police cars pull up.  They are looking at the boats. They are looking up at us.  I then go into full panic mode as I realize they are doing a stake-out on us!

The way we were seated, I was watching it all unfold, but my boyfriend had his back to it.  Not seeing what was going on, he of course thinks I’m completely off my rocker.

Crazy new girlfriend alert!

So, I have to convince him that this is all true. I’m not nuts and he needs to go and fix the situation.  I’m shaking like a leaf and in tears. My boyfriend walks down to where the police officers are and returns about five minutes later.

Yup.  I was right. They were doing a stake-out on us, thinking we arrived on the other boat.

We finished our meal and left. We have been married for twenty years now, but that was probably our most memorable lunch date.

The Acadian Secret blurb:

Elisabeth London is keeping her new friends a secret from her parents.  Not only do they live on the other side of the world in the Scottish Highlands, they lived more than three hundred and fifty years ago. Her mom and dad would never allow her to go gallivanting about seventeenth century Scotland.  They won’t even let her go to the mall by herself yet.

Twelve-year-old Elisabeth is old enough to know there is no such thing as magic, but when her quartz crystal necklace has the power to transport her back and forth in time, she no longer knows what to think.  The only thing she is certain of is that she loves spending carefree days with Quinton, the mischievous nephew of a highland warrior, and sassy little Fiona, a farmer’s daughter.

However, Elisabeth’s adventures take a deadly turn when she is charged with witchcraft.  At a time and place in history when witch-hunts were common, those found guilty were executed, children included. Elisabeth must race to find her way back home, while trying to stay one step ahead of the witch-hunter determined to see her burned at the stake.

tammyloweA little more about the author:

When she isn’t writing, you will either find Tammy Lowe surrounded by little children and covered in glitter and glue, or on some grand adventure: inside an Egyptian pyramid, twirling on an Alp or climbing the Great Wall of China. She’s part Mary Poppins, part Indiana Jones.

Tammy lives in Cambridge, Ontario with her husband and their teenage son. Find her at www.tammylowe.com and her book at the MuseItUp bookstore

Meet Philip Coleman Author of The Master’s Book

I’m guest posting over at Meradeth Houston’s blog with tips and techniques for keeping continuity between books in a series; a topic close to my heart as I’m currently writing the second Elixir book, Elixir Saved.In my stead Muse author Philip Coleman, author of The Master’s Book, which comes out this Friday (check out my Goodreads review), is holding down the blog fort. (And I haven’t forgotten about making my big announcement about Elixir Bound. Stay tuned later this week for it, along with a giveaway!)

The_Master's_Book_333x500What made you want to become a writer?

I suppose it started in the beginning with reading. Even as a child I used to narrate to myself how I felt in certain situations, or imagine stories based on my favourite fictional characters. Then the cares of adulthood put it to the back of my mind for a long time until…well, you’ll see further on.

What inspired you to write The Master’s Book?

I had had a couple of attempts at writing fantasy with only partial success and decided I wanted to try writing a contemporary young adult novel with a real setting for a change. Brussels was the obvious choice for me, despite its reputation for boring EU bureaucracy. I lived there for three years when my children were around the ages of Sean and Maeve in my story. This isn’t to say that Sean and Maeve are modeled on my children; simply that being in Brussels with my son and daughter gave me a glimpse of the city through their eyes. It was a very rich and formative time in their lives, when they were exposed to a lot of new experiences. Among these was the experience of interacting with (stunningly beautiful) children of racially mixed marriages in their school. This was the inspiration for Stephanie, the other main character in the book. And, finally, Brussels and its hinterland are such a rich mix of the modern, the medieval and just about every era in between. This factor became the other big piece in the jigsaw of ideas.

What one book do you wish you had written?

Definitely Philip Pulman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. Not that it’s my favourite book (I have lots of favourites). It’s just that it’s such a rich story, with so many moments of action, horror and high emotion, all held together by one of the most wonderful characters ever created in children’s literature. In fact, the last chapter, which takes place in the Oxford Botanic Garden, inspired my first attempt at writing a novel: a fantasy set in an imaginary botanic garden. Maybe I will return to that idea some day, now that I know much more about the craft of writing!

At what moment did you truly begin to feel like an author?

I suppose it was when my second attempt at a novel got to a second reading with Usborne (and then with Chicken House). It didn’t get any further (and probably shouldn’t have) but it encouraged me to keep going.

What is your favorite part of the writing process? What is your least favorite part?

Some scenes just spring from the page with very little effort and this is always exciting. You know what the characters are going to say and you can imagine all the little gestures that bring the scene to life. Such a scene in my story was the one in the Museum of Musical Instruments. This is when writing is most rewarding. As for the least favourite part of the process, that’s probably when you’re trying to bridge from one pivotal scene to the next without losing the pace of the story; that’s really hard work. And then, of course, there’s proofreading, at which I am so bad.

What is the single best piece of advice you have for aspiring authors?

Can I have two? They would be: (1) don’t be shy about you’re writing – put it out there for praise and criticism; and (2) don’t give up on any account.

What is next for you in your writing career?

I started a sci-fi novel before I got the contract from MuseItUp for The Master’s Book and I would like to come back to that at some stage. However, right now I am working on a sequel to The Master’s Book. Not that I’ve been asked to or anything; it’s just that I had an idea for a sequel that would centre around Belgium’s connection with the Rwandan genocide.

What is something funny/weird/exceptional about yourself that you don’t normally share with others in an interview?

Oh gosh! Isn’t writing fiction crazy enough? Well, I was asked something similar at a workshop I attended a few weeks ago and the best I could come up with was that I was involved in the location hunt for Saving Private Ryan (which is true – that very violent opening scene was, in fact, filmed in Ireland and not in Normandy).

And here’s the fun part…below are three list of words from the magnetic refrigerator poetry set…if you so choose, please write up a little piece of poetry or prose from these words. You can also do this from the perspective of one of your characters!

That’s a great idea for a workshop exercise! Tricky! In the end, I chose to write this as an episode in my story.

I reached out for my phone. The screensaver read 3.16 a.m. I rubbed my eyes and tried to get back to sleep but I couldn’t.

Sean, what’s nagging you?

Then I remembered. Yesterday I’d asked Stephanie to a movie and she’d said “Yes”…

And then what? How should I behave? Will she let me kiss her?

My mouth felt dry, with a bitter taste. I needed a drink. I pushed off the duvet, put my feet into my slippers and headed down to the kitchen, where I flicked on the light and went to open the fridge.

Those word magnets were there, the ones Dad was always messing with. Sometimes I liked playing games with them myself. When no-one was around I’d make up cheeky sentences with them and then play dumb afterwards when Mam asked who’d done it.

The magnet with the word “girl” had been placed a little separate from the rest. Was that Dad’s idea of a joke? Or Maeve’s? Whoever hed done it, they made me think of Stephanie again.

I placed it even further apart from the others. I ran my finger down the vertical lines of the other word magnets. Stopping at the word “beautiful”, I put that beside “girl”. Then I saw the word “hot”. Maybe that was a better description, even though I blushed at the thought. Still, I put it to one side as well.

I picked out more magnets: “black” (of course), “strong”, “funny”, “precious”, “sweet”…

My finger paused at “gentle”. No way! What about “angel”? Certainly no way!

Somebody had put “love” and “sex” side by side – maybe Dad again? I hesitated over them, blushing even more. I couldn’t screw myself up to put them beside the others.

I pushed all the magnets I’d separated out into a tight cluster and stared at them for few seconds. Then, just as I went to open the fridge I saw the magnet with the word “cliché”, buried in a long row of others. I blushed yet again.

What are you doing Sean? What do you think Dad’ll say if he sees what you’ve done? Get a grip.

Hastily, I jumbled all the word magnets into one big messy cluster, then opened the fridge, seized a water bottle and went upstairs.

The Master’s Book blurb:

In 1482 Mary, the last Duchess of Burgundy, lies on her deathbed in a castle in Flanders. She is only 24. In her final moments she makes a wish that, 500 years later, will threaten the lives of a boy and a girl living in Brussels.

The Master’s Book is the story of Sean, an Irish teenager, just arrived in Brussels to a house that is also a crime scene. Together with Stephanie, his classmate, he finds an illuminated manuscript, only for it to be stolen almost at once.

Where did this manuscript come from? Who was it originally made for? Is there a connection with the beautiful tomb Sean has seen in Bruges? Above all, why does someone want this book so badly that they are prepared to kill for it?

Part thriller and part paper-chase, this book is aimed at boys and girls of twelve and over. The Master’s Book is available for pre-order at the MuseItUp bookstore.

544591_10150928316203152_216655409_nAbout the Author:

Philip Coleman has worked as a biologist for most of his life—in Ireland, Belgium and now in Switzerland. Having been an avid reader all his life, he took up writing only in 2006. This is his first published novel. He drew his inspiration for the story from the period he spent working for the EU in Brussels. He has a grown-up son and daughter (who were roughly the same ages as Sean and Maeve during the time in Brussels but otherwise aren’t a bit like them at all!). He now lives in France.

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