Interviews

Emmy Laybourne Guest Post Q&A

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savage drift Emmy Laybourne

I’m so delighted to be here on SciFiChick.com for the first day of my Blog Tour for SAVAGE DRIFT!

SAVAGE DRIFT is the last book in the MONUMENT 14 trilogy. I thought it would be fun to look back at the wonderful blog interviews I’ve done since beginning the trilogy in 2010 and give you:
My Favorite 6 QUESTIONS I’ve Ever Been Asked by a Blogger!

1. If the characters from MONUMENT 14 were to celebrate a holiday, how would they do it? – Olivia, YA Lit Mag

Well, it’s funny – they’re in a big store with lots of different supplies, so if they were going to celebrate a holiday, they would have most of the materials on hand to really do it up!

I think that Niko would assign people to be on different committees – Josie would head up decorations, Dean and Batiste would dream up a special meal, Jake would take over figuring out some special games to celebrate the day, and maybe Sahalia would sing and play guitar!

I can also imagine Josie organizing the little kids to perform some sort of a pageant. Of course, Chloe would be the star, Mac would probably forget his lines and improvise but then Ulysses would steal the show by break-dancing!

2. Why did you choose to make the main character of MONUMENT 14 a boy? Was it hard to make his voice authentic (you know… since you’re not a boy)? – Enna, Squeaky Books

You know, it’s weird, but I never for a second considered making the narrator of MONUMENT 14 a girl! I think this is because I started thinking about who would be in the story and Dean just stepped forward in my mind, to be the narrator. If I had made the narrator a girl, a lot would have been different – perhaps the story would have developed as a love triangle between the narrator, Jake and Niko! As it is, Dean is sort of torn between Niko’s serious, boy scout mentality and Jake’s playboy attitude. But of course, it’s not a love triangle between them! More of a buddy triangle! (Note to self: Write movie called Buddy Triangle!)

3. If you could have one super power what would it be? – Amy, Readingteen

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Q&A: Steven Long Mitchell and Craig W Van Sickle

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Steven Long Mitchell and Craig W Van Sickle joins SciFiChick.com today for a Q&A! They are Emmy Nominated writers, producers and/or directors of over two hundred hours of TV programing, including cult classic The Pretender and the Syfy mini series Tin Man – the reimagining of the Wizard of Oz that remains the highest rated program in the history of the network. Huge Sci Fi fans, they got their start in TV writing on staff for Alien Nation and The Flash.

They are the authors of The Pretender: Rebirth and the upcoming sequel The Pretender: Saving Luke (available April 2014).

Q: For those who are not familiar with the Pretender novels can you give us a brief description of the series?

A: Sure. Rebirth and Saving Luke are edge-of-your-seat mystery thrillers about Jarod, a child prodigy, stolen as a four-year-old and raised by a Halliburton-like organization that exploited his gift for their disreputable activities. After his escape, this ‘ingenious Jason Bourne’ – a human chameleon that can literally become anyone he wants to be – rejoins the world that has been denied him for 30 years. While attempting to find his family, he uses his brilliance to protect the weak and abused, those who can’t protect themselves.

He does this while staying just one step ahead of his nemesis, Miss Parker, the sexiest woman on the planet who is hell bent on tracking him down and returning him to her masters. Their multifaceted, love-hate relationship, driven by the emotional secrets they share, continues to fuel a heated chase, pitting a cunning predator against a brilliant prey.

The Pretender was and remains the most passionate expression of our life’s work. We hope our feelings have been reflected in the stories so far — and the ones yet to come.

Q: The books are based upon the international, cult hit television show, that your two created and produced. Do you need to have been a fan of the TV series The Pretender to enjoy the novels?

A: Not at all. In fact, former fans and new fans seem to like the novels equally if not more. We designed the story telling of the books in a way that there is nothing to ‘catch up’ to. The novels start at the beginning – but it is a new beginning – so the new fans are there from the start, and the old fans get additional information that fills in the blanks from their interpretation of the past.

Overall we think the stories have been so successful and entertaining because of the timelessness of the very compelling characters at the center of the mythology and their human connections to each other and to the readers.

Q: Who are the novels written for?

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Lauren M Roy Interview and Giveaway!

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Author Lauren M. Roy joins SciFiChick.com to talk about her urban fantasy debut Night Owls!

Can you tell us a bit about Night Owls in your own words?

Bookstore owner Val wants to forget the monster-hunting life she left behind on the west coast. It ended badly, and she’s quite done with monsters, thankyouverymuch. Until a girl named Elly makes her way to Edgewood with the monsters on her tail, forcing Val to dust off her combat boots and let down her fangs.

What is the relationship between the two main characters, Valerie and Elly?

I think Val and Elly play off of each other very well. They’re wary of one another to start, but each is aware of how capable the other is. Where Val wants to be done with hunting, Elly embraces it. Val’s trying to redefine herself without that part of her past; Elly can’t see any other future. I’m not sure they’ll ever be best friends, but they come to respect each other quickly. It’s a start!

One thing other reviewers have been pointing out is that there is little romance in this urban fantasy. Is that to focus more on the mystery? Will it be changing in the future?

I wouldn’t quite say I set out to write a book that didn’t have much in the way of romance, but whenever I checked in to see if one might fit into the plot, I got a big ol’ resounding nope from both my writerly instinct and the characters. They were too busy with the Creeps, or navigating the changes in their lives, to pursue anything. Buuuuut that doesn’t mean their minds never wander in that direction. I dropped some hints in Night Owls about where at least a couple of their hearts are at.

Will it be changing in the future? Let’s just say there’s a chapter in book two that I did not want to send to my dad after I finished writing it. (He’s one of my first readers. Everyone say awwww.)

This series has all manner of mystical creatures – vampires, shapeshifters (Creeps), demons, etc. How did you go about developing this world?

The Creeps were, for the longest time, these sort of menacing figures whose faces I could never quite see. Until one night I had a doozy of a nightmare about these shapeshifting creature terrorizing people at Park Street Station in Boston. I woke up spooked and knew I had to write down what I could remember. My handwriting reflects how freaked out I was – I normally have this teeny-tiny, very neat script. That page is full of this weird, broad scrawl. Still recognizable as my writing, and returning to normal the more I woke up, but by the time I was done, I finally had my Creeps.

I tend to do my worldbuilding in broad strokes. I know the most important things about the setting and the people in it, and I ponder big picture questions (a good chunk of which ends up in a file called Stuff the Author Knows. That info might never pop up in the books, but it’s there if I need it.) I also leave plenty of room for neat details to present themselves. Sometimes what seems like a throwaway line open up all kinds of possibilities.

How many books do you have planned for this series?

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