YA Feature: Introducing YA author: Alexia Purdy

This week on Reading Away The Days I would like to welcome Alexia Purdy. Alexia Purdy is the author of The Teleen Trilogy. Please welcome Alexia to Reading Away The Days by checking out her series and by showing some comment love.

A little about Alexia and her writing career so far:

I read a lot, I can remember reading in 1^st grade and I’d devour everything I got hold of.  I have to credit this for my love of writing too.  Writing is something I must do.  The stories scream to be written, so I must write.  I delved into short stories and poetry most of the time.  I have stacks of them.  I figured that I need to learn to write more extensively to become of any interest to be published as an author, so I dove head first into writing and Interim Blue arose from this.  It’s definitely harder than I thought it would be but I absolutely love it!  I am also self-published, which has offered me so many opportunities and is definitely not the same as some stereotypes try to lead people to believe it is.  The indie/self-published community is awesome; absolutely hands down the best people I have ever met.  They help each other out, offer advice and are extremely talented people.  I will never look back thanks to them.

I live in Las Vegas, Nevada and I work as an RN, which leaves my imagination quite parched and dry!  I have four rambunctious kids that keep me quite busy.  I have always wanted to be a nurse and a writer since I can remember and now I can finally say I have done both! 

You are the author of The Teleen Trilogy.  Can you tell us a little about the first book in the series, Interim Blue?

Interim Blue is about a girl named Shade who has had some strange talents her entire life without really knowing why.  After a run in with a faerie warrior named Jack, she is pulled into the world of Faerie where she reluctantly undertakes a mission to obtain powerful magic to aid the Seelie Queen in an ongoing war in Faerie between the Unseelie (evil) and Seelie (good) courts. Trouble follows her like a magnet as she meets friends and foes.  She works to overcome them and learns more about the magic inside her.

Where did you get the idea for The Teleen Trilogy? 

A lot of my writings are based on dreams.  I remember all my dreams and Interim Blue came from a really weird dream I had where I dreamt of a girl following a man made of blue fire taking place in a where house.  Pretty much followed it and let the story unfold.

I love the cover of Interim Blue! Who designed it and did you have much say in the designing of the cover?

Thank you!  I had a ton of say!  I took the picture myself in the Sequoia forest of California about 12 years ago.  When I was thinking of a cover, my pictures came to mind of that beautiful and enchanting place.  I wanted something simple but foreboding.  Tinting it helped me capture the vision in my head. 

The Teleen Trilogy has faerie's in it. There are lots of different takes on faeries's in novels today. What sort of take on faeries have you used in your book?

I have all the well-known aspects of faeries, for example- their intolerance to iron, they cannot lie, they have magic and some are beautiful beyond words and some are not.  Other than that, I have added a new race, The Teleen, who wield blue fire and electrical currents.   They are all mischievous and not really trustworthy.  Definitely not the Disney type of fairies, these are more like a parallel world where they can be quite cruel and fantastical at the same time.

The second book in the Teleen Trilogy, Ash and Embers is out next month. Can you tell my readers a little about the next book in the trilogy?

Shade has come into her powers in this book.  It will have more tragedy and blood-shed, battles and of course, love and heartache.  Her internal struggles continue but with a more mature aspect to things around her.  There is more of her home life in it; interactions of her family and such.  There is also a more in depth approach to the Land of Faerie, its politics and effects of the war between Unseelie and Seelie courts.  More in depth characters, and the return of some very key characters.

Why should we read The Teleen Trilogy?

I think you should read it because this is not the usual ‘Fairy Tale’.  It has a fresh look on a fascinating world and it’s a place one can disappear into and never return.  Definitely not the worn out vampire/werewolf tale.  It’s a highly neglected branch of paranormal that has infinite possibilities! 

Are you currently working on any other projects at the moment?

I am!  I will be working on the third book of the Teleen Trilogy, title pending.  I have a post-apocalyptic vampire hunter novel coming up called ‘The Reign of Blood’.  It is also an upper YA Urban Fantasy with a twist on vampires and vampire hunters, I have Resident Evil to thank as an influence on this one but with vampires, not zombies.   I love the paranormal genre but I want to breathe new life into it, I refuse to take the road most taken.  This novel will be done before book three of the Teleen Trilogy, and hopefully due out in Feb/March of 2012.  Book 3 of the Teleen Trilogy will be due out July 2012.   I also am compiling a collection of poems I have written spanning two decades.  That will be due out hopefully March 2012, title pending.  I’m planning a very busy year!

Alexia's Book History

A favorite book as a child and why?

It was ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, but it was illustrated and written in Spanish!  Wish I still had it.  Otherwise it was ‘Wait till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story’ by Mary Downing Hahn (1987), which I believe was recently re-released.  Such a haunting tale.  It freaked me out so much, I had to read it over and over and over again.  I’m a gluten for punishment.

A favorite book as a teenager and why?

‘Homecoming by Cynthia Voight’  Why? Well, at that time it seemed so epic and I loved how the kids overcame obstacles and abandonment with realistic reactions.   Her writing envoked so many feelings of fear, hate, sadness and loss.  Love those types of books.

The best book you have read this year and why?

Oh, I’ve read so many this year, let’s see, hmmm.  That’s the hardest question ever!!! I’d have to say probably ‘The Road’ by Cormac Mc Carthy.  The raw terror you feel for the characters is absolutely gripping.  It was so disturbing that I have to say, I will never read this book again, it affected me so much!

A book that taught you a lesson and why?

The Third Angel by Alice Hoffman.  It tells of how everything you do today, can affect everything in your future and the futures of others.  I love how she writes, she leaves you haunted with characters spun with pain and suffering, yet they survive, and find the humanity within themselves and eachother.

An author you would recommend to my readers?

I always recommend Alice Hoffman and Cassandra Clare.  Their stories are weaved seamlessly and evoke deep emotions, leaving you breathless in every read.

Thanks to Alexia for the awesome interview. Interium Blue is now available on Amazon , Smashwords & Barnes & Noble

Follow Alexia @ her:

Website
Facebook Profile
Interium Blue Facebook Fan Page
Goodreads