The Assembly Room blog tour: Review

Book: The Assembly Room
Author: Bryony Allen
Publisher: Pneuma Springs Publishing
Paged: 184
Received copy from author for review

14 year old, Merryn Stearne and her family move to a new home in the idyllic Suffolk countryside. However their new home turns out to be anything but idyllic. Their new house is an old thatched cottage and beside it is The Assembly Room, an old building that has a history. From the moment Merryn set eyes on The Assembly Room she has a bad feeling about it. Merryn though moving to the country side was a nightmare, little does she know the nightmare has only started!

I really enjoyed The Assembly Room. The story kept me hooked from the first chapter. When Merryn starts having the dreams of the Witch Trials from 1645 in Suffolk it is so detailed and descriptive I could imagine everything that was happening as if I am there with Merryn experiencing the dreams. The dreams where very horrific and the way the so called "withces" where treated was terrible and you can feel their pain coming of the pages.

Merryn was a great character. She is a strong protagonist that takes us along on her journey as easily as if we are Merryn ourselves. I have to admit when reading about the going on's and discoveries at The Assembly Room I was a little scared at times, that is what I get for reading late in the night but I just needed to keep reading to see what happened next.

On a lighter note there is a romance with Merryn and Jamie, her next door neighbour. It was a good storyline to have going on with the heaviness of the situation of the main storyline.

Overall I really enjoyed The Assembly Room. It was a quick read that kept me gripped with a great storyline and characters!

4/5 STARS

Buy The Assembly Room:

Amazon UK - http://amzn.to/RCECKW

Amazon Com - http://amzn.to/QIvofQ

Kobo - http://bit.ly/SOPuUT

The Book Depository - http://bit.ly/PrYgZz

Barnes and Noble - http://bit.ly/QPOGQI

Tesco eBooks (ePub and PDF) - http://bit.ly/Tc4liF

Waterstones - http://bit.ly/OUy35e

Pneuma Springs - http://bit.ly/OqOC7v

WH Smith - http://bit.ly/WntmYN

Indiebound - http://bit.ly/SZKoK2

Stalk the author:

Twitter- @Bryony_Allen

Goodreads- http://bit.ly/QEftPf

The Assembly Room Facebook page - http://on.fb.me/SePNcd

Pinterest - http://bit.ly/Tuq0g7Website - www.bryonyallen.co.uk

My Amazon Author Central page- http://amzn.to/WlSH5n

Google+ - http://bit.ly/V6cj8O

Completely Novel - http://bit.ly/P7MGVG

Freado - http://bit.ly/R9JlVy

Spook House Blog Tour: Video Interview with author Michael West

Today is the Spook House tour's stop on my blog and I am super excited to have author Michael West the author of Spook House here today! What is even more exciting is that Michael has recorded an awesome video interview for us but it isn't your normal video interview. This interview takes place in a haunted house!

Spook House is a great book for halloween and all year round for a spooky fun read! The cover is even spooky:

 

There are some places in this world that go far beyond any normal definition of “haunted.” These places are so evil, so diabolical, that they become gateways to Hell itself. The Fuller Farm is one such place.

It is said that old man Fuller conducted unspeakable acts, blood rituals and human sacrifices, all in an attempt to gain the ultimate knowledge, the ultimate power. And then, he was killed

–horribly murdered on his own lands, leaving the house to stand as a vacant monument to his wickedness. But once a door is opened, it can never really be closed.

Now, the stars are right. The gateway is ready to once more unleash unspeakable horror upon the town of Harmony, Indiana. And this will be one Halloween that they will never forget!

Without further delay I now introduce this awesome video interview from author Michael West:

 

 

Spook House is available to buy now! Thank you to Michael for the interview and everyone at www.seventhstarpress.com

 

 

 

Interview: Kimberly Sabatini

Today is the release of Kimberly Sabatini's debut novel Touching the Surface. I was happy to get an interview with the author as the book releases on my birthday (today) :) Enjoy the interview and leave a comment below!

Can you tell us a little about yourself and how you got into writing?

 I wrote a lot from a young age. I tended to send out a lot of editorial type letters to people. If I loved Romper Room (yes, I'm dating myself) I wrote Doo Bee a letter. LOL! As I got older I wrote letters to lots of folks, including real editorials to the newspaper. I also wrote poetry, had a diary and loved english class. Then one day--something just changed--I became very self-conscious. I started to realize that I wasn't always thinking about things the way I was I was supposed to. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough personal fortitude to continue to say what I was really thinking in my writing. Someone might read it. I didn't feel strong enough to handle that, so I stopped writing about honest things and when I did that, writing didn't hold a lot of magic for me any more. I let it get away from me. I wish I could say that I recovered from that tailspin relatively quickly, but I didn't. I didn't start to really write again until I was in my mid-thirties and my father had passed away. I wish it hadn't taken me so long to find my voice, but perhaps my voice is meant to speak out for those who think they shouldn't have one. Maybe I had to live that to be able to honestly bring that to the page.

Can you tell us about your paranormal debut, Touching the Surface?

Here it is...Experience the afterlife in this lyrical, paranormal debut novel that will send your heart soaring.When Elliot finds herself dead for the third time, she knows she must have messed up, big-time. She doesn’t remember how she landed in the afterlife again, but she knows this is her last chance to get things right.

Elliot just wants to move on, but first she will be forced to face her past and delve into the painful memories she’d rather keep buried. Memories of people she’s hurt, people she’s betrayed…and people she’s killed.

As she pieces together the secrets and mistakes of her past, Elliot must find a way to earn the forgiveness of the person she’s hurt most, and reveal the truth about herself to the two boys she loves…even if it means losing them both forever.

Where did you get the inspiration for Touching the Surface?

A huge chunk of my inspiration came from the death of my dad. When he passed away it caused me to look at myself and who I wanted to be in this world. I decided that I needed to grow, change, be brave and do the things I've dreamed of. I'll be honest--it's often easier to talk about it than do it. Some days, trying to be "more" can be a little bit disheartening. As I plodded away, taking what felt like one step forward and two steps back, I began to wonder about my dad. We've always been a lot alike, which means he moved on with a lot of unfinished growth and change on his dance card. It got me thinking. In the great Monopoly game of life, did he get to just pass go and collect $200 of enlightenment? That didn't really resonate with me. It felt like maybe he should be evolving right along with me. I believe that when I was building the Obmil, I was subconsciously building the place where I pictured my dad. It makes me feel good to think of us doing it together.

I love the cover of Touching the Surface, purple is one of my favourite colours. Who designed the cover and did you have much say in the design process?

I have to just come out and say it--I adore this cover too!!! It was designed by the fabulous Jessica Handleman at Simon Pulse. I was also very lucky because they asked for my initial raw input and they incorporated some of my thoughts into this amazing cover. And the purple--I love the purple!

How does it feel to be debuting you novel?

It is simultaneously the scariest and most wonderful thing I've ever personally accomplished. To be truthful, there are days when I am invincible and on the top of the world and there are others when I'm a messy puddle on the floor. But that's the ying and the yang of this business. It has intense ups and downs and you have to ride it like a roller coaster. Preferably with your hands thrown up in the air.

Why should we read Touching the Surface in just 140 characters?

Read TOUCHING THE SURFACE by @KimSabatini because life altering mistakes are meant to alter lives. Dare to Delve…

TOUCHING THE SURFACE will be available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon and most Indie Bookstores todayTuesday October 30, 2012. You can also purchase for Kindle and NOOK.

Website/Blog--http://kimberlysabatini.com

Facebook--
https://www.facebook.com/kimberlysabatiniauthor?sk=wall

Twitter--
https://twitter.com/KimSabatini

Pinterest--
http://pinterest.com/kimsabatini/

Goodreads--
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4667368.Kimberly_Sabatini

Google+--
https://plus.google.com/102049417428491863936/posts

Tumblr--
http://kimberlysabatini.tumblr.com

LinkedIn--
http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=126451256&trk=tab_pro

Birthday Giveaway- 24 prize packages to 24 winnes!

Hi! To celebrate me turning 24 on the 30th of October I have got together with loads of fantastic authors to bring you this awesome giveaway! I have 24 prize packages to 24 winners and loads of ways for you to get extra entries into the giveaways! I would like to thank all the authors & publishers who have kindly donated the great prizes! :)

I have four rafflecopters below, two of the rafflectopters are International, one is US only and the other is UK only. You can enter any of the giveaways you can enter, for example, I am in the UK so I can enter both the international giveaway rafflecopters and the UK one.

The giveaway ends on the 25th November, so you have plenty of time to enter! This is kind of a celebrating 1000 followers giveaway as well as I just recently hit 1000 followers!

Thank you for stopping by my blog!

xx

INTERNATIONAL RAFFLECOPTER ( EBOOKS & SWAG)

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INTERNATIONAL RAFFLECOPTER (PAPERBACKS)

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US ONLY RAFFLECOPTER

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Author Interview: Aubrey Flegg

Can you tell me a little about yourself and how you got into writing?

I think I have always been fascinated with words, but being dyslexic, writing just wasn’t an option when I was young. My early childhood was spent on a farm in Co Sligo; this was a formative time for me. There was no electricity on the farm, so milking was done by hand, and as it was war time, there was no fuel for a tractor, so the work on the farm was done with horses. Many years later when I came to write my first book, Katie’s War, it was easy for me to imagine what it had been like for Katie back in 1922 when she was growing up on similar farm. I find I use my own experiences a lot in writing, and when necessary, will try to find out more by reading or travelling. My working life was spent as a geologist, studying rocks, mostly in Ireland, but also in Africa. When wanted to describe life for Yola, a young African girl who steps on a landmine, I was able to give her a home and a family based on the people I had lived among in Kenya.


Lets talk books:

Your first book Katie’s War was published in 1997. It is a book set during the civil war period in Ireland. Can you tell us a little about this book?

One day I was standing at the door of my lodging near Killaloe after a hard day’s geology when I heard a horse galloping towards me. A pony and trap flashed by; I think the pony was bolting, but standing up in the trap was a girl leaning on the reins laughing as the wind blew her hair, I said to myself then: one day I will write about that girl and I will call her Katie. We have all heard of the brave Irish men and boys who went to fight in the trenches with English army during the First World War, but we forget that when they came home they found that they were not wanted, as by that time we were fighting our war of independence against the English. I began by imagining Katie’s father returning from the war, wounded and shell-shocked, and being nursed back to normality by Katie. How would he feel when, just as the war of independence was won, not only Ireland, but his own family was split, Republican versus Free State in vicious civil war? At the time of writing the troubles in the North of Ireland, echoes of the same civil war, were still raging. I wanted someone to observe Katie and her family from outside so I brought in the Welsh boy Dafydd; he nearly took over the story for me.

Your novel The Cinnamon tree is about a girl named Yola who has her leg blown off by a landmine and her life is changed forever. She travels to Ireland to be fitted with an artificial leg and her life is changed further when she meets 17 year old, Fintan.

Where did you get the inspiration for the book?

I had finished Katie’s War and was wondering what to write about next when I saw by chance a TV programme showing Princess Diana in Africa showing the world the evils of landmines. These small bombs which are buried to wound soldiers are still ending up wounding and killing civilians, mostly women and children. I felt so angry that I decided to write a book about this evil. I started to write but soon was in deep trouble, my Irish hero was useless. I asked advice of a friend who said: “Simple, you don’t know what it is like to stand in a mine field!” I rang Norwegian People’s Aid and asked if I could come and see how they were clearing landmines. To my horror they said; “Yes, provided you do as you are told.” I flew out to Angola and within hours had met the African girl who would become Yola, and within a week had seen all that I needed to write about landmines. Back home at the Rehabilitation Hospital I met the boy who would become Fintan. Now all I had to do was blend my Kenyan experience with the Angolan minefields.

You have also written the Louise Trilogy including books, Wings Over Delft, The Rainbow Bridge and In the Claws of the Eagle. Wings Over Delft has won some prestigious awards including the Bistro Book of the year award 2004. Can you tell us a little about the trilogy and where you got the inspiration for it?

I had on the wall above my desk a postcard of the Vermeer’s portrait of: The Girl with a Pearl Earring. One day the card fell onto the floor and lay there face-down. It was then that I realised that it wasn’t the card or the canvass that made the picture come to life, but my action of looking at it. What about a book, I wondered, that starts with the painting of a portrait of a girl, a masterpiece, so perfect that she seems about to step out from the canvass. When she regrets that the portrait is finished and she will be trapped in it for ever, the painter points out that a picture is never finished because it is the people who look at it that finish it, and that she may well live again in the minds of her viewers. So, what if a century and a half later her picture falls, into the hands of a French Hussar who becomes so absorbed with her portrait that she does indeed come to life for him? Or leap forward to Vienna between the world wars where she becomes the constant companion of a young Jewish violinist. The Louise trilogy started as a single book and turned into the trilogy: Wings Over Delft, The Rainbow Bridge, and In the Claws of the Eagle.

 A theme I noticed in your novels is that most are placed in Ireland and set in the past. Is there any other genre you would like to explore I.e. Dystopian, paranormal etc.

For someone who was brought up on Patricia Lynch, who loves the fantasy of Tolkien, and Philip Pullman, and has the greatest respect for modern fantasy writers, I don’t seem to be able to write fantasy myself. I’m like a kite that needs the thread of reality to fly and not to wander. In both The Rainbow Bridge and In the Claws of the Eagle Louise, however, my heroine does step out of the minds of my heroes to play an active role.

What can we expect next from you? Are you working on anything new?

As you observe, I tend towards history; and to Ireland for my locale, as I have for my most recent novel Fugitives. This is a story based on the Flight of the Earls. Hugh O’Neill stood on the deck of his boat with a hundred passengers waiting for his young son Con to join him in their flight. Con never arrived. That is all I knew when I devised a story in which two foster brothers, Fion O’Neill, a fictional nephew of Hugh, and James de Cashel of Norman descent set off with James’s sister Sinéad to find Con and bring him to the boat in time. They fail, which gives me the opportunity to write a sequel, which I am working on at the moment.


Check out the authoswebsite www.aubreyflegg.com If you have any questions email the author at amflegg@gmail.com . Aubrey's  book  are published by: The O’Brien Press, 12 Terenure Road East, Dublin 6. Books can be ordered on line from: www.obrien.ie .

YA Feature: Debra Chapoton

The Author:

My biggest accomplishment has been to teach hundreds of high school students (sometimes English, but mostly all levels of Spanish). I have taught at four different, but very large, suburban high schools from which I get my ideas for characters, plots, and settings.

Writing:

About ten years ago a fellow teacher assigned his students to write a book over the course of a school year. Most of them accomplished the feat. I thought if kids can do it then so can I, but I only had the time to write during summer vacation. I got caught up in the process, loved it, and have been writing ever since.

The books:

Edge of Escape, my first YA novel, delves into obsession and fear. Emotionally impaired yet clever, Eddie obsesses over the most popular girl. He drugs her, abducts her and locks her away. My inspiration was a student I had who was tall, dark, and handsome yet shunned by the others. He sat with the special education students at lunch yet achieved good grades in my class. He was terribly shy and I wondered how things would work out for him if he ever fell in love. Edge of Escape is a psychological thriller with a sympathetic twist.

The inspiration behind Sheltered came from reading the Bible and observing that everywhere Jesus taught and preached he cast out demons. It must have been a pretty big problem back then, but why don’t we hear about it now? The demon-possessed people of Bible times manifested the symptoms of epilepsy, dementia, super strength, schizophrenia, self-mutilation and so on. Aha, science and medicine have new names for what they used to call demon possession. But what if sometimes they’re wrong?

Author's Book Habits:

 

Favourite book genre and why?

Action/adventure because this genre encompasses a wide variety of other genres and books like The Hunger Games, Jurassic Park, even Harry Potter.

 

Favourite book series and why?

There are so many great series and I change my mind weekly as to my favorite. Right at this moment I’ll say the Harry Potter series because I was so captivated from the first book and subsequent books did not lose their appeal.

Favourite author and why?

Again I have so many favorites (Sparks, Grisham, Cussler, Evanovich, Koontz, Meyer) that it’s difficult to pick one, but if I have to choose I’ll say Michael Crichton.

An Author you would recommend we check out and why?

Cindy Bennett. She’s a self-published YA author whose books inspire me.

 

Author's Book News:

The Guardian’s Diary will probably be out in January. It’s about a teen boy who was born with a gruesome deformity that causes him to drag his foot. He faces some tough challenges and dangerous decisions. The story is told through the eyes of his guardian angel.

Right now I am working on a young adult novel in which the teen characters maneuver through a supernatural world, yet there are neither angels nor demons in this story.

Buy the authors books:

 

Amazon

Kindle

Nook

 

Stalk the author

 

Blog

Twitter
Facebook

 

 

Cover Reveal: Blood Bound by Keisha Swaim- YOU DECIDE!

This cover reveal is a little differnt from all the others. For this cover reveal you get to vote for which cover you like out of a choice of two fantastic covers, how awesome is that. The cover reveal is for Blood Bound by Keisha Swaim that debuts in September 2013! Here is a little about the book before the cover reveals:

Title: Blood Bound

Author: Keshia Swaim

Publisher: Spencer Hill Press (www.spencerhillpress.com) .

ISBN: 978-1-937053-45-1

 

Release Date: September 10, 2013

Formats: Paper, e-book

Blood Bound

Starting college a year early is hard. Starting fae college and learning to protect the world from the Unseelie is harder.

Brielle Reed has always been an over-achiever, but this time she may have bitten off more than she can chew. Between her crash course in fae politics, struggles to control her new mind-reading ability, training sessions with the demanding Dr. Schwartz, and discoveries about the father who is still a mystery to her, Brielle finds herself longing for a chance at a normal life.

 

But she may not get that chance. Or chance at a life at all, for that matter.

 

So here are the two covers you can vote for:

 

 

 

You can head to this link to vote on which cover you would like to see. I voted for the hand cover!

 

So what do you think? Which cover do you prefer?

 

 

 

 

$100 Book Blast for The Emerald Talisman Audio Book by Brenda Pandos

 

 

 

The Emerald Talisman Audio Book by Brenda Pandos
Read by Mary Morgan

You can run from your destiny, but you can't hide.

If for no other reason than to help endure the hormonal rush of high school, sixteen-year-old Julia Parker would trade her ability to feel her fellow students' emotions in a heartbeat, especially half the boys in class.

When the beguiling Nicholas uses his superhuman strength to rescue Julia from the edge of a cliff before she's devoured by a bloodthirsty stalker, Julia is suddenly thrust into an underground world where people and animals are often one and the same. Fellow high school students disappear and only Julia and Nicholas know the truth. While Nicholas, a vampire hunter, is out stopping the ever-growing coven, an old friend entices Julia to join him on the dark side and a psychic tells Julia she alone is the key to stopping the madness, problem is it'll require Nicholas' life.

 

LINKS:

Website * Blog * Goodreads * Twitter * Facebook

 

About Author Brenda Pandos: 

Brenda Pandos lives in California with her husband and two boys. She attempts to balance her busy life filled with writing, being a mother and wife, and spending time with friends and family. Working formerly as an I.T. Administrator, she never believed her imagination would be put to good use. After her son was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder her life completely changed. Writing paranormal romance became something she could do at home while tending to the new needs of her family, household, and herself.

Three years later, Brenda now has five books published, The Talisman Trilogy: The Emerald Talisman, The Sapphire Talisman, and The Onyx Talisman, and Mer Tales: Everblue and Evergreen. She is currently working on the third book of Mer Tales, Everlost, coming February 2013

 

 

Giveaway Details:

$100 Amazon Gift Card or $100 PayPal Cash from Author Brenda Pandos

Ends 30.10.12

*You need not enter your twitter name for each entry. Simply enter it when you follow Brenda and leave the others blank.*

 

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Interview & Giveaway: Author Rebekkah Ford

Can you tell us a little about yourself and how you got into writing?


I’m married to the best person ever. I can’t have kids, but I do have a cat whom I consider my four-legged kid. His name is Church, after the cat in Stephen King’s book Pet Sematary. I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, but I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. My husband and I moved to a small farming community in North Dakota six years ago and really like it here. I’ve been writing stories since I was a kid and completed my first novel in 2010. It’s not published, though. It was more or less a practice novel. I learned a lot while working on it.

Can you tell us about your YA paranormal novel, Beyond the Eyes?


When a ghostly voice whispers a haunting message to seventeen year old Paige Reed, her life takes a nightmarish turn, changing it forever.


It’s basically about good versus evil and packed full with everything: romance, love triangle, heartache, horror, friendship, humor, mystery and suspense. It also shows Paige having to deal with her emotional baggage that’s been weighing on her heart for years. But she has to in order to move onto the next phase in her life. She’s also impetuous in this first book.


This book, along with the other two in this series throws light on some of life’s darker mysteries.


Have you ever wondered why some people are vicious? Have you ever wondered if they had a soul? What if they were soulless and malevolent entities were able to possess them? Paige discovers the answers to those questions and more.


Where did you get the idea for Beyond the Eyes?


What started the idea for this book was the movie The Exorcist, believe it or not. Then the “what ifs” questions began. From there I took conversations I’ve had with my husband, my knowledge and experience in the paranormal world, spun it with my own imagination and voila, a new YA paranormal series was created.


The cover for Beyond the Eyes is quite creepy! Who design the cover and did you have much say in it?


Stephanie Bibb is my cover artist, and she’s great to work with. She can be found here: http://sbibb.wordpress.com/tag/stephanie-bibb/


Yes, I had a lot of say in the book cover, which is wonderful. I had fun working with Stephanie. In fact, right now she’s working on the cover to my next book in this series.




Beyond the Eyes is the first in a series. What more can we expect?


A lot. The next two books are much darker than Beyond the Eyes because the dark spirits play a bigger role in them and so do Paige’s friends: Carrie, Tree, and Brayden. The next two books will take the reader further down the rabbit hole. And thank God Paige has grown and is now a stronger person. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to handle what’s coming her way.

Halloween is just around the conor so I thought I would ask Rebekkah a few halloween related questions!

You grew up in a family that dealt with the paranormal. If you could speak or communicate with a paranormal creature which would it be and why?


I would want to have a conversation with Lilith. According to legend, she was the first female created out of the earth, the same as Adam. One day Adam demanded she lay beneath him, and Lilith basically told Adam to piss off. She viewed herself as an equal to Adam and refused to be a lesser being than him. That didn’t go over well. She left Adam and refused to go back to him. She sacrificed paradise for her beliefs in not serving or being oppressed by a man and now lives in darkness as a demon. And then God created Eve who was an obedient and inferior person. I 'd want to talk to her to hear her side of the story, what really happened and what she's been doing for thousands of years?

Do you have any halloween traditons?

Because I don't have kids, I don't go all out for Halloween like I want to. However, I do put up Halloween decorations, buy pumpkins and a ton of candy to handout to the kids.


What is your favorite Halloween treat?


Caramel apples.

Buy Beyond the eyes:

Amazon.com

Barnes & Noble

Smashwords

Stalk the author:

Blog

Book Daily

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Author Interview: Celine kiernan

All book covers used are covers published by O'Brien Press in Ireland, covers are different in each country*

Can you please tell us a little about yourself and how you got into writing?

I've been writing since I was a very small child. I was literate very early ( I could read from the age of three, I think) and as soon as I could hold a pencil I was doing one of two things with it, drawing or writing. I loved words and how they sounded and how they fit together. I played with them like building blocks, really, and still do - my unconventional use of language is often a source of amusement (not to mention consternation) to my editors.

 

Lets talk Books:

 

 

You are the author of award winning and critically acclaimed YA fantasy trilogy, The Moorehawke Trilogy, that includes The Poison Throne, The Crowded Shadows and The Rebel Prince. Can you tell us a little about the trilogy?

 

It's set in an alternate 1500's Europe and is about a young girl ( Wynter Moorehawke) and her attempts to not only prevent the kingdom she loves from descending into intolerance and tyranny, but also to rebuild a life for herself when all her support structures have been slowly eroded. It's quite dark and doesn't shy away from the harsher aspects of renaissance life, with torture and violence and intolerances of all kinds, but it's also all about friendship and love and good people trying to do what they believe is the right thing. I offer no answers in it, so characters make many mistakes and often end up doing terrible things to each other - but such is life and it's life I'm interested in exploring here. Above all else I'm interested in exploring the fact that there is never one true answer to everyone's problems, and how people need to find a way to live within an ever fluid series of compromises if we are to get along.

 

Where did you get the idea for the trilogy?

 

As is often the case with my work, I first got the idea for Moorehawke a long time before I actually began to write it. We were staying in the south of France and went to visit Clos Luc Manor where Leonardo Da Vinci spent the last three years of his life. There (after an encounter with a small grey cat) I first got the idea for a children's adventure story featuring a missing prince, a carpenter's daughter and (possibly) a talking cat. My children were very young at the time and so it initially started out as something sunny and adventurous and light. When I finally settled down to write it however (many years later) my children were grown and it had become something much darker and complex and more... well, more me really! You can read more about what influenced the final book here, if you like. http://www.orbitbooks.net/2010/03/26/strong-women-child-soldiers-and-geniuses/

 

           If you could encourage anyone to pick up the trilogy in three words what would they be?

 

The characters rock.

 

You have also written Into the Grey a YA ghost story set in the 1970’s in Ireland . Can you tell us a little about it? (O’Brien has published it in Ireland, Walker is set to publish it in the near future)

 

Into the Grey is about 15 year-old twin brothers Dominick and Pat who - due to their senile grandmother burning their house down - lose everything in the course of one night. Moving to an empty holiday home in a wintery seaside town, they quickly find themselves in danger of losing far more when the ghosts who live there take an unhealthy interest in the two boys who now impose on their troubled domain.

 

Into the Grey is a different genre from The Moorehawke trilogy. You have gone from fantasy to paranormal. Do you like to experiment/try different genres? Is there any other genre you would like to try?

 

Everything I write has major fantasy elements (so things like ghosts, aliens, werewolves, paranormal activities, psychic powers etc all feature in there somewhere) and I think its unlikely that I'd ever write a story without those elements included. But at the core of every book is a theme that I'm trying to explore ( in the case of Into the Grey the themes of identity - of how we see ourselves and how history/the world sees us - of loss and of family are all very strong) Any choices I make in terms of setting, POV, voice or even tense, are simply based on what I think best serves the story and its themes.

 

Even though your books are all YA but in different genres I have noticed a pattern, that all your books are set in the past. With the Moorehawke Trilogy being set during the renaissance, Into the Grey set in the 1970’s and your 2013 release, Resonance, set in the 1890’s. Do you prefer setting your books in the past rather that in a contemporary or futuristic setting? Do you have an interest in history and is the why your books reflect your interest?

 

Well, the settings of the stories all depend on the themes I want to explore within them. It's always fun to sidestep reality a little in writing. It makes the exploration of deeper themes less heavy handed - especially when exploring such real-life issues as racism and PTSD and political responsibility, as I do in Moorehawke. Setting a story in the past or in an alternate reality is one way of dealing with deeper issues without the story feeling heavy. I do also like to examine the long term consequences of real life actions (like societal reform for example (Moorehawke), or the changes history makes on how we see ourselves and our own actions (Into the Grey) or seeking self-worth in a world that deems you/your kind worthless (Resonance)) Setting a story in the past is a great way of exploring sweeping concepts like that. (I have written future sci-fi and contemporary stories btw, but they've not yet been published.)

 

Next for you is the release of Resonance in 2013, a supernatural Sci-fi. Your publishers are calling it a “metaphysical gothic”. Can you tell us a little about it?

 

Well, there's no real blurb for it yet, but Resonance is set in Ireland, in 1890, and tells the story of two ruthless immortals who prowl the theatre district in search of food for their 'Angel'. They're ancient and pitiless, and they care for no-one but their own twisted family. They'll stop at nothing to maintain their grip on life and soon there's only a seamstress, the young man who loves her and a penniless American magician to stand between them and the deaths of many. I guess there are many things that went into my writing this one. I was thinking a lot about life and death at the time, inspired probably quite deeply by my father finally losing his decades-long struggle with cancer. How does our concept of what comes after life (Something? Nothing? Punishment? Reward? ) shape our attitude to living and dying? What does it mean to be alive; what does it mean to want to be alive? Even knowing how insignificant we are in the great scheme of things, even knowing it will all someday end for us, how is it that people keep themselves going? I was also very interested in the concept of self-worth; of characters who are told by the world, You are less than others, yet somehow manage to find their way. It happens in so many different ways: by dint of a person’s gender or race, creed or social status, they are deemed to be inferior to the dominate strata of their society. I wanted to explore how folks deal with that; in what ways it may strengthen or warp them. And I wanted, as always, to push these ideas as far as I could. The urge to run away, to hide, to make a little haven for yourself and your loved ones far from the judgment and horrors of the world - how long can that be sustained without it becoming something twisted? As you remain mired in the same old fears and prejudices, and the world around you changes, wouldn’t you be as good as dead? This is in contrast to the determined manner in which some people simply face the world; simply barrel on through’ simply make of themselves whatever they can, no matter what the circumstances. All of that I wanted to explore, and did, in Resonance. Of course there are Angels, too, and murderous children, and psychic powers, blood and guts, spooky mansions, murderous thugs. You know - the usual Celine Kiernan delights.

 

 

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Phantom Blog Tour: Interview & Giveaway

 

 

Can you tell us a little about yourself and how you got into writing? 


I was writing poetry in kindergarten and wrote my first play in second grade, so writing has definitely always been in my blood. But it was starting a product review blog that led to me getting published. I reviewed a book for one of my publishers, one thing led to another, and I had my first contract. In addition to being a young adult author and blogger, I am also a mom to four great kids and own a restaurant. I live at the Jersey Shore, and I love spending the summer on the beach. It’s the best place to write.


Can you tell us about your novel, Phantom?

Since you already know the gist of what it’s about from the blurb, I’ll tell you about some of the people who inspired my favorite characters. The character of Lord Justyn and his mother were inspired by real people, both of whom are Wiccan/pagan. Because it tends to be a misunderstood religion, it seemed to tie in well to the often misunderstood Phantom. You can learn a little more about the real people who inspired the characters and helped bring Phantom to life on my blog. http://authorlauradeluca.blogspot.com/2012/03/many-masks-of-phantom.html


Where did you get the idea for Phantom? (I think the phantom musical may have been an influence LOL )

It was kind of a spur of the moment decision to start writing Phantom. I was cleaning my house and listening to the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack when I suddenly thought to myself that my gothic friend Justyn, who is an actor, would make a great Phantom. Then I thought, hey, that would make a great book…six months later it was done!

Describe your main protagonist Rebecca in less than 140 characters?

Shy, innocent, and high strung, but willing to open her mind with a little prompting.

As we know Phantom of the Opera is a musical. Which character from a musical would best describe you?

 I’d probably fit the role of Meg Giry. I’d be the best friend rooting on Christine from the shadows.

Why should we read the Phantom in one sentence?

Whether are familiar with The Phantom of the Opera or not, Phantom offers a refreshing romance with intriguing characters, a shocking ending, and a heroine who doesn’t need a man to come to her rescue.

The “Phantom” was a musical phenomenon that Rebecca had always found enchanting. She had no idea that her life was about to mirror the play that was her obsession. When her high school drama club chooses “Phantom” as their annual production, Rebecca finds herself in the middle of an unlikely love triangle and the target of a sadistic stalker who uses the lines from the play as their calling card.

Rebecca lands the lead role of Christine, the opera diva, and like her character, she is torn between her two co-stars

—Tom the surfer and basketball star who plays the lovable hero, and Justyn, the strangely appealing Goth who is more than realistic in the role of the tortured artist.

Almost immediately after casting, strange things start to happen both on and off the stage. Curtains fall. Mirrors are shattered. People are hurt in true phantom style. They all seem like accidents until Rebecca receives notes and phone calls that hint at something more sinister. Is Justyn bringing to life the twisted character of the phantom? Or in real life are the roles of the hero and the villain reversed? Rebecca doesn’t know who to trust, but she knows she’s running out of time as she gets closer and closer to opening night. Only when the mask is stripped away, will the twenty first century phantom finally be revealed.

　
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