Category: Interview (Page 3 of 7)

Interview & Giveaway with Kelly Hashway Author of CURSE OF THE GRANVILLE FORTUNE

October 31, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

Happy Halloween! Today a quick interview and a giveaway with Kelly Hashway as she celebrates the release of her MG mystery CURSE OF THE GRANVILLE FORTUNE. Pretty much anything Kelly writes (including her works under her pen name Ashelyn Drake) is an automatic add to my TBR pile. Welcome, Kelly!

What made you want to become a writer?

I’ve loved books since before I could read. I still remember the first time I read a book on my own and how powerful it made me feel. From that moment on I knew I not only wanted to read books but wanted to write them, too.

What was the hardest part of writing CURSE OF THE GRANVILLE FORTURNE? And on the flip side what was the easiest?

When I started this book I couldn’t get the first chapter right. I actually had to write the ending first and then backtrack. So oddly enough the climax and the ending were the easy parts. Once I had those in place, I was able to tackle the start of the story and work my way to the middle. It was definitely a different process than what I’m used to.

What other books are like CURSE OF THE GRANVILLE FORTUNE that readers might enjoy?

Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black

Growing up, what books have had the most influence on you?

I grew up reading R.L. Stein’s Fear Street books. I loved them. They were scary, suspenseful, and fast paced. I devoured that series.

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

Percy Jackson and the Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan, Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

What’s up next for you and your writing?

Well, there are more books in the Curse of the Granville Fortune series, plus I have a bunch of YA titles coming out over the next few years. And of course, I’m writing new titles too.

And finally can you share something funny/weird/exceptional about yourself that you don’t normally talk about in an interview?

I have a weird phobia of the number three. I think that’s why I use it so much in my books. It just freaks me out, and I associate it with bad luck. No idea why though. It’s strange.

CURSE OF THE GRANVILLE FORTUNE blurb:

Find the fortune, break the curse!

The hunt is on for an ancient treasure tied to nine-year-old J.B.’s family history. He’s been having visions that make him sweaty, lightheaded, and certain he’s turning into some kind of freak—or worse, going insane. But things are worse than he imagined. The visions stem from a family curse. An ancient ancestor was accused of stealing the massive Granville fortune, and now J.B.’s entirely family will suffer.

To break the curse, J.B. must find and return the Granville’s stolen property. But he’s not the only one searching for the treasure. As he sets out on his journey through a dark and foreboding forest, he’ll battle his worst fears and fight terrifying creatures along the way. And when he meets two others who share the missing pieces of his visions and suffer from the same curse, the three soon realize they need to work together to break the curse before it’s too late.

Purchase Links:

About the Author:

Kelly Hashway grew up reading R.L. Stein’s Fear Street novels and writing stories of her own, so it was no surprise to her family when she majored in English and later obtained a masters degree in English Secondary Education from East Stroudsburg University. After teaching middle school language arts for seven years, Hashway went back to school and focused specifically on writing. She is now the author of three young adult series, one middle grade series, and several picture books. She also writes contemporary romance under the pen name Ashelyn Drake. When she isn’t writing, Hashway works as a freelance editor for small presses as well as for her own list of clients. In her spare time, she enjoys running, traveling, and volunteering with the PTO. Hashway currently resides in Pennsylvania with her husband, daughter, and two pets.

Author Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

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Meet Aoife Marie Sheridan Author of HUNTERS

October 3, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

This week’s guest blogger is Aoife Marie Sheridan, whose paranormal story HUNTERS (The Demon Series #1) was just released. Let’s give a big welcome to Aoife as she shares a little about herself and her writing.

What have you published recently?

Recently I have published Hunters. Demon Series Part one. It will be released on the 1^st of October.

What is a typical day like for you as a writer?

Well I work so I don’t have a lot of time to write. My writing goes something like this. If I have a spare moment – grab a pen, the house is empty – type. Quiet at work – get a notepad, ect. Just any moment I can find to write, I will. J But I never suffer with writer’s block, when I finally get to write I know exactly what I want to say.

What types of writing do you do?

Mostly Paranormal/Fantasy but I would love to do a contemporary romance, maybe one day.

What are your favorite characters that you have created? Tell us about them

I just love Cathy. She is part of Abigail’s group. Her story and background are very sad but it gives her a flair. Cathy can be nasty or overly self-confident but she does all this to hide her insecurities her full story comes to light in Book Two (Hunted). But she was fun to write.

Secondly of course is Abigail. She was a very complex character to write. She’s an alcoholic so I had to do a bit of research on this. Also her trauma of seeing her family die has damaged her. She’s fuelled with anger, guilt and self-doubt constantly. We don’t see Abigail in a happy light until we reach Book two (Hunted). We see a more mellow side to her. Over all it was a challenge to write her, but I enjoyed it.

What music do you listen to, while writing?

I have a playlist for hunters. I listened to all these songs on repeat.

“Another Love” by Tom Odell
“Seven Nation Army” by White Stripes
Swedish House Mafia (Club scene)
“Watchtower” by Delvin Feat – Ed Sheeran
“Clown” by Emeli Sande
“Runaway” by Linkin Park
“In the End” by Linkin Park
“Talk” by Kodaline

What do you eat while writing?

I am not as bad as I use to be, so I don’t really eat, (THAT IS WHILE WRITING) J normally my downfall is caffeine.

Five for Fun:

What is your favourite non-alcoholic drink? Coffee.

What is your favourite cartoon character? I love the little girl from Despicable me.

What is your favourite movie of all time? War of the Worlds.

What TV shows do you like to watch? Games of Thrones.

What do you like to do for fun or just to relax? Read, Watch movies or go out for meals.

Where can we find you on the web?

Website: www.aoifemariesheridan.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Aoifemariesheri

Blog: aoifesheri.wordpress.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6551996.Aoife_Marie_Sheridan

Twitter: https://twitter.com/aoifesheri

Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/+AoifeMarieSheridan

Linkedin: http://ie.linkedin.com/pub/aoife-marie-sheridan/66/760/942

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/aoifesheri/

HUNTERS blurb:

Abigail is nineteen. Her job, she hunts demons.

Her life so far has been tough. Having witnessed her family’s death and her mother’s suicide, she’s been taken in by a priest, who believes her when she says that she sees ghosts. Father Peter trains her as a demon hunter with three other members, one being Daniel, who isn’t what he seems.

But when a possession goes wrong, and ghosts start to attack Abigail, the tight rope she has on her emotions soon starts to loosen. Abigail draws the unwanted attention of the Reote, and she finds out a lot more than she was willing to learn.

Knowledge is power, but for Abigail, it’s her undoing, and the only thing keeping her together is Daniel.

All Amazon Purchase Links: http://authl.it/22e

About the Author:

Aoife Marie Sheridan has loved reading from a very young age, starting off with mills and boon’s books, given to by her grandmother her love for romances grew, by the age of 14 she had read hundreds of them.

Aoife had a passion for writing poetry or in her eyes her journal entries. It was something she did throughout her teens and into her twenties. Aoife won first place for two of her poems and had them published at a young age of just nineteen. Realising she needed to get a real job (What writing isn’t) she studied accountancy and qualified working in that field for many years, until her passion for reading returned and she found Maria V Snyder. Poison study one of her favourite books has been read and re-read countless times.

Aoife’s first book Eden Forest (Part one of the Saskia Trilogy) came to be after a dream of a man and woman on a black horse jumping through a wall of fire and the idea of Saskia was born. Now with her first novel published and taking first place for Eden Forest with Writers Got Talent 2013, Aoife continues to write tales of fantasy and is currently working on her third book for the Saskia Trilogy amongst other new works.

To contact Aoife you can email her at aoifesheridan101@gmail.com.

Local Authors Day and an Interview

June 11, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

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. 🙂

Talking Paranormal and Ideas with K.L. Pickett Author of The Unwanted Gift

May 30, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

K.L. Pickett is on the blog today for a conversation about her latest novel, a MG historical paranormal called The Unwanted Gift (see my 5-star review here). And her book is on sale. Let’s give a big welcome to K.L.!

Katie: Welcome, K.L.! Thanks for chatting with me today. I understand you have your third book out now. Congratulations! What kind of book is it and what’s its title?

K.L.Pickett: Thanks for having me back, Katie. My latest book is a middle-grade paranormal ebook entitled THE UNWANTED GIFT.

Katie: That’s an intriguing title. It makes me wonder what kind of gift would be unwanted?

K.L.Pickett: The main character, a twelve-year-old girl (whose name by the way, is also Katie), receives the gift of healing when her grandmother passes on.

Katie: Great name! Why wouldn’t someone welcome having a special power, especially the power to heal other people?

K.L.Pickett: Katie was raised by her grandmother. She saw firsthand how people constantly interrupted her grandmother’s life because they needed her help with their illnesses, injuries, and disabilities. All of her grandmother’s time was spent serving others; she never had time to herself. Katie doesn’t want to live her life that way; she wants to go places and do things. She wants a life of her own, so she hopes she never has the gift.

Katie: From the title of the book, I assume she does receive the gift.

K.L.Pickett: Yes, her grandmother passes the gift on to her right before she passes away, leaving Katie with a difficult dilemma. Should she keep the knowledge of her power to herself so she can lead her own life, or should she use it to help others, knowing her life will no longer be her own?

Katie: That does sound like a hard decision, especially for a twelve-year-old. How did you come up with this idea for your story?

K.L.Pickett: I’ve always been fascinated by paranormal stories. Paranormal, by the way, is a general term for having experiences that can’t be explained by scientific explanation. Stories about paranormal experiences are found by the thousands in popular culture, folklore, and from individuals.

Katie: When I think about paranormal activities, I usually think of ghosts.

K.L. Pickett: A lot of people do, which is why they have several TV shows based on finding them! But any activity outside of the realm of science’s current ability to explain it would be considered paranormal. Every culture has stories about weird things happening that can’t be explained: Bigfoot, Loch Ness monster, ghosts, alien abductions, psychic abilities, and healing people through touch. There are a whole lot of unexplained things that happen in our world.

Katie: So how did you come with the idea for this particular story?

K.L. Pickett: I got the idea for the story when I walked by a store called The Blue-Eyed Witch. Wondering what kind of items were for sale inside, I went in to discover crystals, incense, books, and other items used for (good) witchcraft on their shelves. There was an advertisement posted on their bulletin board from someone who performed Reiki, which was explained as the “laying-on-of-hands” to promote healing. Those who do Reiki believe there is an unseen “life force energy” flowing through each of us and that it is what causes us to be alive. Reading that flyer made me start thinking about what it would be like to have the power to heal or to take away pain. At first I thought it would be awesome to have that ability. But then I started thinking that if people knew you could heal them or take away their pain, you’d probably be hounded for the rest of your life. And that’s how I came to write The Unwanted Gift.

Katie: I’m always asking people where they got their ideas, but this is the first time someone said it was from a witchcraft store! It sounds like a great book and now I’m curious to find out what Katie decides to do. Will she use her gift or not?

K.L. Pickett: I hope others are curious as well! It’s currently on sale from the publisher for only $2.99. Thanks for letting me chat with you today.

Katie: It’s been my pleasure.

The Unwanted Gift blurb:

Twelve-year-old Katie is destined to receive the gift of healing from her grandmother. But people bother Granny for help every single day – at all hours of the day and night. Katie doesn’t want her life to constantly be interrupted. Who wants to live like that? To Katie, Granny’s ‘gift’ is more like a curse. So she hopes she never has the gift.

Harry, Katie’s school enemy, is destined to live in poverty like his parents. His father drinks and hurts him and his mother. He doesn’t want to end up like that. He wants to be somebody someday.

Together they form an unlikely alliance to help one another. But is it possible to change your destiny?

Buy it now at the MuseItUp Publishing bookstore or other e-book retailers.

About the Author:

K.L. Pickett was born in Southern California. Her first job as a young teenager was collecting eggs on an egg ranch. She’s had many occupations since then: preschool teacher, real estate salesperson, special education teacher’s assistant, loan officer, furniture salesperson, and agricultural biologist. She currently teaches fourth grade in a rural elementary school.

Over fifty of her stories and articles have appeared in national magazines such as Boys’ Life, Highlights for Children, Humpty Dumpty, and Ladybug under the name Karen Troncale.

She’s rescued dozens of cats, dogs, and birds in her life including a pelican, a pheasant, and several crows. An avid animal-lover, she’s a volunteer for the Tombstone Small Animal Shelter, designing their flyers each week and writing their public radio announcements.

Currently she resides in Tombstone, Arizona, along with her husband, dog, and mule. When she’s not writing, reading, or teaching, she’s riding her mule along the same desert trails that Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday rode upon.

THE UNWANTED GIFT is her third book. For more about K.L.. and her books visit her website or Facebook page.

Meet Fran on the Blog Tour for Impervious by Heather Letto

May 5, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

I am excited to be a part of the blog tour for Heather Letto’s YA dystopian IMPERVIOUS. In celebration of her debut release, Heather has a special giveaway running. Be sure to check out the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win!

Impervious Blurb:

The residents of Impervious are the remnant—survivors of the War of Annihilation. And though the city is chockfull of pleasures to tantalize and entertain, a beast lurks in its corners haunting the residents with its presence. The Beast—a mysterious and terminal illness―has killed off most of Generations One, Two and Three. And as Gen-Four prepares to take the stage a provocative, yet questionable, new method to avoid an untimely death becomes a cultural rage.

But Fran is counter-cultural. And living off the grid in true rebel fashion, her life is far from opulent. Scurrying through dark tunnels, searching for hot meals and ditching the holographic security team encompass most of her day. However, she views it as a healthy trade-off. Unaccountability means The Council can’t steal her sliver of hope―a belief that she’ll see The Epoch arrive before the beast can pull her into its fetid embrace.

After losing her mother and then her Rebel mentor, however, she grasps painfully onto the splintered sliver, until a new hope is born. First through Pete. And then through a miraculous discovery.

But the question still haunts her…

Can she outrun The Beast?

INTERVIEW WITH FRAN:

Hi all! Heather Letto here with a funny story–I sent Fran an email not too long ago, asking if she wouldn’t mind making an appearance for today’s blog stop. She said, sure… if I was willing to throw a few donuts and a Big Gulp into the kitty.

So, sitting with me today, fresh out of the Impervious air vents, with a box of Dunkin’s finest in her lap, would you welcome Gen-Four’s most elusive Rebel, Fran Monde.

Fran: (Waving a chocolate cake donut dipped in sprinkles) Hey.

Heather: Do you mind if I call you Fran or do you prefer Frannie?Fran: (Stuffs donut into her mouth and rolls her eyes.)

Heather: Great. Fran it is. So let’s start with your hometown, Fran. Although it wasn’t your favorite place, I’m sure the readers would love to hear about the city. What can you tell us about the lifestyle of an Impervieite (and yours before you became a Rebel)?

Fran: Well, you might notice as you thumb through my story, food plays a pretty central role in the lives of underground dwellers.

Heather: Duly noted. Why is that?

Fran: (Shrugs) I’m not sure how to explain it. I was just always hungry underground.

Heather: And obviously still are. (chuckles)

Fran: (Snarky laugh.) Maybe it’s because there’s really not much to do. It’s kind of boring actually. I spent a lot of my free time as a kid just wandering the Agora, snacking, gaming… that’s about it.

Heather: Hmm. Fair enough. What about Pete?

Fran: (Stuffs the remainder of the donut into her mouth and licks each finger) What about him?

Heather: Like him?

Fran: Duh.

Heather: Love him?

Fran: Sheesh. No comment. (Grabs second donut.)

Heather: Okay, how about that weird name your brother called you? Some sort of worm?

Fran: Wickworm?

Heather: Yes, that’s it. What’s that all about?

Fran: Well, if you Google the word, you’d see that A Wickworm is a worm, or parasite, that
lives in the intestines of an animal. You may not be aware of this, but the air vents of impervious are kind of like the guts of the city… therefore—

Heather: Ah yes…. You’d be the worm.

Fran: Exactly. (Winks at me.)

Heather: Listen, I know you don’t have a lot of time here today, but I do have one final question that I think a lot of the readers would want to know.

Fran: (Nods her head) I’m listening.

Heather: Retter. Is there a crush happening there?

Fran: (Face blossoms into a cherry) Nah. Ret’s just a guy. Well, a very muscular guy. With tawny eyes….

Heather: (snapping fingers) Hello? You still with us, Fran?

Fran: I gotta go. (grabs box of donuts and stomps off).

Heather: (Clears throat.) Well. Thanks, Fran, for gracing us with your presence. (Sighs)

About Heather Letto:

Heather considers herself but a worker in the field with a desire to share truth through the art of good story. In real life, she’s the proud mother of two grown sons and lives part-time in Northern Illinois with her husband, but scurries off to warmer climates when the mercury takes a dive on the thermometer. As well as The Ascension Series, Heather contributes to WHOAwomen magazine, The Fit Christian, Tween Girls and God, Devotion Magazine as well as Swagga for Christ Ministry.

Impervious is available in

e-book and paperback at:

AMAZON

Barnes and Noble

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