Author Interview with Patricia Bracewell about "Shadow on the Crown"



Title: Shadow on the Crown 

Author: Patricia Bracewell

Number of Pages: 416

Publisher: Viking Adult

Summary:

A rich tale of power and forbidden love revolving around a young medieval queen

In 1002, fifteen­-year-old Emma of Normandy crosses the Narrow Sea to wed the much older King Athelred of England, whom she meets for the first time at the church door. Thrust into an unfamiliar and treacherous court, with a husband who mistrusts her, stepsons who resent her and a bewitching rival who covets her crown, Emma must defend herself against her enemies and secure her status as queen by bearing a son.

Determined to outmaneuver her adversaries, Emma forges alliances with influential men at court and wins the affection of the English people. But her growing love for a man who is not her husband and the imminent threat of a Viking invasion jeopardize both her crown and her life.
Based on real events recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Shadow on the Crown introduces readers to a fascinating, overlooked period of history and an unforgettable heroine whose quest to find her place in the world will resonate with modern readers.

Star Rating:

We all loved this book. We gave it 4.5 stars.

Our moderator Brooke, contacted the author and we video-chatted with her for the evening. Her manner was so warm and kind hearted, I think we all loved her instantly. We learned about her process of writing and researching, some of her favorite things in life, and that there are 2 more books to complete this story! Here is a sample of some of the questions and answers from the interview - most answers are paraphrased.

Interview with Patricia Bracewell

Moderator: What is your background?
Patricia: I used to teach high school English, literature and composition. She also raised a family.

Moderator: How did you choose to write about Emma?
Patricia: I think she found me, I saw an online bulletin post that mentioned Emma of Normandy, I had never heard of her. I started doing a little research and I was hooked. I could never find the post again. I guess the universe lined it up.

Moderator: What was your process for researching and writing about Emma?
Patricia:  I began by reading general histories of the Anglo–Saxons, the Normans, and the Vikings. From there I progressed to books that dealt specifically with Æthelred II and Emma of Normandy. At the same time I began to research details about the period in academic journals—clothing, weaponry, warfare, land ownership, architecture, trade, roads, ships, horses, food, and much more. I drove through Normandy, visiting Rouen and the abbeys along the Seine. I went to England and followed Emma’s route to Exeter, spent several days in Winchester, took a two week summer course on the Anglo–Saxons at Cambridge, visited the Anglo–Saxon village at West Stow, and watched a reenactment of the Battle of Hastings. What surprised me the most was just how little is left from the eleventh century.

Moderator: Tell us a little bit about your writing process. Do you outline, brainstorm, or just write?
Patricia: Every author has a good dose of butt glue. I write out scenes, and think in scenes - who is there, who are they, what do they want etc... "Sitting down and facing a blank page is just dreadful."

Moderator: How did you decide to choose several characters viewpoints to write from?
Patricia: Because it was a man's world, I didn't just want someone saying what happened, I wanted people that were experiencing it.

Moderator:  One of the themes that emerged throughout the narrative is how little power women had in this society, in which even their brothers could control their fate, and yet Emma is something of a proto–feminist
character. What is it about Emma that enables her to have the power that she does?
Patricia: Women could own land and things at this time in history, but it was still a patriarchal society. Women had to use their power however they could. That usually meant manipulating men. Emma recognizes and accepts her role as a woman in a patriarchal society, but she also recognizes her power as a queen and she understands what alliances she must make in order to fully achieve it. I made the decision to give her the language gift.

Moderator: Emma makes a profound choice, between love and honor. How did you arrive at this decision on her behalf?
Patricia: My function as the author was not so much to choose honor over love on Emma’s behalf, but to put her in a situation where she had to make that choice. It doesn’t appear anywhere in the histories. It is where history ends and storytelling takes over. The Emma that I created, I hope, could not have made any other decision and still have been true to her nature. It is fiction with a tendril of truth.

Moderator: Which character's perspective did you like to write from best?
Patricia: Emma

Moderator: Which character would you choose to go back and live out their life?
Patricia: Emma

Moderator: Can you give us any hints on what happens in the next two books?
Patricia: Book two is written with the same 4 character viewpoints and ten people get killed off. Book three is war, war, war.

Book Club member: Does Ange make an appearance in the second book?
Patricia: Yes! (This sparked a discussion about how she writes her horse scenes and has fellow writers that ride horses read those sections to make sure they are realistic.)

Moderator: What are some things about yourself that may surprise us?
Patricia: I play guitar and sing folk music. I used to sing in a bar - think Carol King.

Moderator: What is one of your guilty pleasures?
Patricia: Listening to mysteries on my MP3 player. I really like Ian Rankin's books.

Moderator: What is your favorite TV show?
Patricia: Vikings, on the History Channel

Moderator: What is one item that you could not live without?
Patricia: Earl Grey Tea

Moderator: What is your favorite book that you have read this year?
Patricia: This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett

Moderator: What do you like to do in your leisure time:
Patricia: Play tennis, work in the garden, go for walks, travel

As you can see, we had a wonderful evening visiting with Patricia Bracewell. We would definitely recommend Shadow on the Crown as a book club pick. There are many interesting themes, complex characters and tricky dilemmas to discuss.

Go pick up this book today. You won't be disappointed.

Elizabet

Author Interview with Teri Harmon about "Black Moon"

Teri

Title of the Book: Black Moon

Author: Teri Harman

Publisher: Jolly Fish Press

Number of Pages: 416

Year Published: 2014

Reading Level: Young Adult-Adult

Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy

Synopsis: Simon Howard accidentally killed three people. Four months later, the nightmares won’t stop. Willa Fairfield, his girlfriend, his soul mate, wants nothing more than to help him move on. But guilt isn’t the only thing getting in Simon’s way.When unexplained earthquakes hit the small town of Twelve Acres, and dozens of people go missing, the Light witches discover their most feared enemy, Archard, is still alive. Employing the twisted, dynamic magic of a legendary witch known as Bartholomew the Dark, Archard plans to exact his revenge and take control of the Powers of the Earth on the night of the black moon, a rare lunar event infamous for Dark magic.As the Light Covenant fumbles to defend against Archard’s sadistic intentions, Simon’s magic grows inexplicably more powerful, even dangerous.  Willa throws all her efforts into solving the mystery of Simon’s transformation, but when the events of the past storm into the present, the couple’s future changes forever.

We invited Teri Harman last year at the launch of Blood Moon, the first book in her Moonlight Trilogy. Check out these links to read all about OUR BOOK REIVEW OF BLOOD MOON and SEE THE HUGE WITCH PARTY we threw for her in 2013!

This year she came to our first Delicious Reads Retreat!

Summer Nicole Photography

Summer Nicole Photography

Summer Nicole Photography

We read Black Moon for our Halloween selection and loved catching up with Simon and Willa. We were able to get some insights from Teri on the creation of Black Moon.

Summer Nicole Photography

First, we asked if she had actors in mind when she created her characters because we had so much fun doing that for The Goldfinch! 

But Teri said she created her characters from scratch. There are characteristics from certain people in her life, but she didn’t want to base them on actual people. If she had to pick actors for her characters, Jonathan Rhys Meyers would be Archard and and Jensen Ackles would be Simon.

Teri is a big Buffy the Vampire fan. Buffy is what influenced her to create a strong female character. Willa was actually named something different in the first draft, but it didn’t quite fit. Willa means “protector” and she wanted Willa to possess that quality, so the name fit perfectly.

Her books move back and forth between times and so we wondered what her favorite era to write the story was.

Teri loved writing from Bartholomew’s perspective He wasn’t always going to be a main character, but he had this voice that captivated her and she knew his story had more depth and that it needed to be told.

Summer Nicole Photography

We asked her about her writing process. When she started writing the series, she had young children. Her process revolved around a desk that they purchased from Ikea. It was supposed to be painted, but it never happened and they put inspiring quotes on it. Now she loves it so much she won’t ever paint it. Eventually she  created a home office which is where she writes now.

We were curious if she had met people that practice some of the Wicca spells and rituals. She has, and they describe their practices as another version of a religion. They invoke power from the moon or from the spells in a similar way to prayer. A black moon is very important and is almost its own religion. A black moon is the second new moon in a month and it happens every few years. 

Summer Nicole Photography

Each full moon every month has a specific name and specific things that are attached to it. 

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She added in the psychic mind and dreams to the powers of the moon. If she could have one of the powers, it would be the gift of dreams. She has very vivid dreams and many of them have been incorporated into the books.

We asked her about the terminology “witches.” Some of us thought that a male witch would be called a “Warlock.” But she told us that according to Wicca, the term “witch” is used for both men and women.

Summer Nicole Photography

One of the most difficult things about writing Black Moon was the trying to avoid the second book slump. She wrote forty-five thousand words (as a reference, most young adult books are about sixty-five thousand words) and then decided it wasn’t the story she was supposed to write. She did a very brave thing that no writer wants to do—she trashed the whole thing and started over. Then she came up with the twisty plot that is now Black Moon! All and all, Black Moon went through about ten different drafts. She said the toughest part was to make the story feel fresh with the same characters as the first book. She worked really hard to make the second book even better than the first.

Her work paid off when she got this Kirkus Review: 

"A dark, realistic and intriguing story that evades the second-book slump. 

Unusual and absorbing."

What’s next for Teri?? She has written a stand-along book called The Painted Life. It’s about a girl who is trapped in a painting and it comes out next June! We are so excited to see what this book is all about! 

Black Moon was a perfect Halloween/Fall book chock-full of twists and turns. We had a great time with Teri at our retreat. She has already finished the last book in her series and it’s in the final editing stages. We can’t wait for it to come out!

Your Writerly Ranter,

Brooke

Summer Nicole Photography

Interview with Leigh Bardugo about "Ruin and Rising" {WARNING: Juicy Spoilers}

We had such a blast throwing our Shadow and Bone book club party last fall that we couldn't resist reading Ruin & Rising this year to finishing out the series. We asked Leigh if she would consider Skyping with us again and she graciously said Yes! (we all did our happy dance when we first saw her beautiful face pop up on the screen!) We chatted and giggled with Leigh for over an hour and got all of our burning questions answered and even a few tid bits of info we promised not to reveal. Sorry guys, you'll just have to wait and see what Leigh has up her kefta when she decides to share all her book secrets but I promise, you'll be happy!

Here's some of the questions we asked Leigh and her answers:

Q: You told us last time, there would be a character that took after David Bowie. Who were you thinking? 

A: Sturmhond/Nikolai (you would notice more from Siege and Storm)

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Q: We were fascinated with the character Nikolai! But we were sad that he didn't get a hottie at the end of the book. Will we ever see more from Nikolai? A short story or book from his perspective?

A: If I write about Nikolai, it will most likely be a full book, actually. I'm not swearing to it, but . . . (she may have shared some more details here, like a possible title **hint, hint** but our lips are sealed!)

Q: We've heard about this new project you're working on. Can you tell us more about The Dregs?

A: On the map from Siege and Storm or Ruin and Rising, you will see the country of Kerch. While the rest of the world has been in turmoil, Kerch has prospered. It is this neutral country, a great trading power and hyper-capitalist society. It is the jewel of all art and culture. And just like it is the hub of all legal trade, it is also the hub of illegal trading - with a thriving criminal underworld, where all of my heroes come from, of course. I like to describe it as Oceans 11 meets Game of Thrones. Its a rag-tag band of largely despicable characters who have to pull off an impossible heist. 

It's two books and the first one should be out the end of 2015.

Q: Will we ever know where Alina came from and her power? We know Mal came from the Morozova's line, but she's just a huge questions mark for us.

A: What's interesting about Alina's power is that it's different, but it isn't actually that big. If you remember from Shadow and Bone, it's actually an issue. She's a powerful Grisha, but she isn't as powerful as the Darkling. She knows without the first amplifier she can't enter the fold. So in some ways she's an ordinary Grisha, but she's also an extraordinary one. I have Alina's origin story written down just so I would know. I just thought it was important not to wrap it all up in a bow. I know there's this desire to look at destiny and it's one of the things that Alina falls into - the classic thing in fantasy where everyone falls into this idea that "everyone is chosen". I wanted to play with the idea of "don't tell me I just happened". I wanted there to be possibility. Maybe someday I'll write more of her story, but I don't know. I have a lot of stories to tell.

Q: When Alina and Mal's powers left them at the end, did Alina create a new kind of  Grisha or were they Sun Summoners, like she was or something combined with what they old Grisha power was?

A: No Grisha becomes a Sun Summoner. All the ordinary people are the ones who become the new Sun Summoners. If the amplifiers had been brought together by a tide maker, then it would have created a bunch of tide makers. Morozova wanted to bridge the gap between the Grisha and everyone else.

Q: The sea whip and the stag: did they have that dual life (like Mal who, when he died, he let go of the extraordinary life he had, and become ordinary)?

A: No, this is something I could have done a little bit better, but it was this game of trying to reveal what Morozova was doing without revealing everything. If you look back to all the references of his journals, you see that he killed animals and brought them back - that's the way create an amplifier. Then he chose these extraordinary animals (not like some arbitrary rabbit you find on the side of the road) that he brought back to life with Morozova's power/magic.

Q: When you started writing the trilogy, did you know then who or what the three amplifiers would be or did you figure that out along the way.

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A: No. I  when I started book one, no. I didn't plan on it being three books. I had never written a book before. My only goal was to finish this book (I had started many books before and never finished).  About halfway through the book, I realized that the ending I had come up with was wrong - that it was a bigger story - and that there was a larger arch at play, this girl's journey didn't last this short period of time. So I started taking notes and when I signed with Jo (my agent) she said she got the feeling like this wasn't just one book and I told her I pictured it as a trilogy. So she said we would just go with that and luckily, Macmillan wanted all three books. But we had to submit a synopsis fro books two and three. So I used my notes and I came up with a synopsis and I turned them in. While my editor had book one, I was on a shoot in upstate New York, and I decided to revise my outlines. At the time there were three amplifiers, but there were at lot of things that were different. I'm sorry for those that didn't have read all the books yet, but Nikolai originally died in Siege and Storm, (**We all gasped we she said this**). I know . . . He was going to be murdered by Vacily and Alina was going to be framed for it.There was originally a split POV between Mal and Alina. And there were three ordinary amplifiers. The final showdown took place at the Grand Palace. When I went through this long walk in the snow for like 2-3 hours, and I was like, "NO!" I rewrote the two books on this long walk, went home and changed the outlines and sent them to Macmillan. Nothing changed after that. But it was during that walk that I realized that Mal was the third amplifier and when I started building out Morozova's history. And it's whe i got a better sense for what the arch of the story was going to be.

I went to this conference at DragonCon and there was this panel on morally ambiguous characters in Harry Potter. There was this lively debate about Snape and about Dumbledore and Percy. The thing that was interesting to me is that I think there is this desire among readers, myself included, to believe that Authors have it all mapped out, like they know everything from moment one. I just don't think its true. I don't think the Queen, JK Rowling, had it all mapped out. So, yes, I will confess that I didn't have it all mapped out. But I did always know the way it would end. That would never change.

Q:  So about Oncat (Harshaw's cat), we were wondering if at any point during your writing process if Oncat had something sinister behind him.  One of us thought that he might have been spying on them for the Darkling . . .

A: (lots of laughing) I think that is the best question I have ever had!! No, Harshaw was just nuts! Oh my Gosh, I love that - the cat was behind all of it! That's great!

Q: Did you have a favorite character?

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A: I know it sounds obnoxious, but I love all of them. It kind of came over the course of the books to have a soft spot for everybody. I think Genya arch for me was one of the most important in the series for me - she's really near and dear to me. Her story has been really important to me and its the story that I get the most touching email about. She's one of my favorites. I have to say that in book three, my favorite character to write was Zoya. It's funny, I love her so much. She's such a b****. And I really enjoyed somebody who could be a good guy and a hero and also just awful. I am just with you, Zoya. We are kindred spirits because that would be me. I would be like, "I want a nap, I want a glass of wine, I want everybody to shut up, and don't talk to me." Yeah. In fact, I just got a new car and I named it Zoya. 

Q: If you had to chose one guy from the Grisha trilogy that you could have a happily ever after with, who would you chose?

A: Okay, this is going to sound crazy, but Tolya. Because he is sweet and loyal. He's tall, tough, and loves poetry - like a jock who loves poetry. Admittedly, he's a religious fanatic, but for me, Tamar and Tolya's faith was important for me to present in a positive way and I feel like I would be fine with him being like, "I gotta go take care of my Saint right now." I just really love Tolya. He's just not as much of a pain in the butt as everyone else. He just doesn't spend as much time brooding and moping and trying to save the world. He's just doing his job.

Q: Where are the film options at right now or do you know?

A: What I do know I'm not really allowed to talk about. They make you sign these insane disclosure documents that basically say, "If you speak about this publicly, we will sue you." and stuff like that. I get asked all the time about casting and I try to skirt around it by saying, "A young this or and young that." Yeah, I don't really know. We'll see.

Q: Will you be involved in the movie?

A: Well, I met David Heyman (owns Heymaker Films, who bought Harry Potter). He asked how much I wanted to be involved. I was like, "How much will you let me be?" Contractually, they have no obligation at all to involve me. I know there is a screen play, but they have not let me read it yet.

Q: Last time we Skyped with you, we asked you: who would marry, make-out with, or kill. This time, we want to know: who would you go dancing with, who would you like to have a sleepover with, and who would you like to go on vacation with?

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A: I would go dancing with Harshaw. I would have a sleepover with all the ladies. I love the Grisha-lady crew. I would love to have a Grisha sleepover.  (We said: "Like the scene where Alina is sharing all her dresses and they are all trying them on."). Yes, I know that scene seems kind of frivolous. But I have the incredible group of female friends in L.A. and before my launch party I went over to their house because I didn't know what I was going to wear. And then when we got the film deal, one of my friends made this Pinterest board that was for 'Red Carpet Wardrobe'. It was all that we were going to wear. I love these girls. So I wanted to have that scene of shameless, female bonding that wasn't all about "we must bond, we are going to war" but more like, "we can bond, let's try on dresses." I had a lot of fun writing that and I want to try on all those clothes! So definitely have the Grisha slumber party. I if had to pick just one, it would have to be Genya. Zoya would be a pain in the a**. And for vacation, I'd pick Nikolai because he would be like (and Leigh says this with a fabulous Russian accent), "We only stay in five-star resorts and we travel by flying ship." 

Q: What is one of your favorite questions that you've ever been asked?

A: Your Oncat question!

Q: What really happened to Oncat after? Sitting by a glowing fire? At the palace?

A: Funny you ask that because when one of my friends read the book early and she warned me in several texts, "If you kill this cat, we can't be friends anymore." Stags, yes. Poor sea dragons, yes, But you can't kill the CAT!  I love that Oncat is now the secret villian or hero. He's going to have to be the new novella!

The best question . . . I think it is the overall discussion now that I enjoy. It has been really fun to talk about the book (now that all of them are out) and not have to hide anything anymore. I do think it funny when people come up to me and say, "You've destroyed me! It wasn't supposed to end like that." I get a lot of teary -eyed teenagers asking, "Was there ever a chance Alina and the Darkling could have ended up together?" Yeah, I think the two questions I get asked most frequently are that one and did I know how the series was going to end. And the answer to the Alina and Darkling is: NO! 

Q: So we know that they made an impostor Alina for her funeral pyre. We were wondering if that was possible for the Darkling?

A: As Nikolai would say, when people say impossible, they usually mean improbable. And I'm just going to leave it at that . . . 

READ OUR FIRST INTERVIEW WITH LEIGH ABOUT SHADOW AND BONE

Interview with Teri Harman and Review for "Blood Moon"

TITLE OF THE BOOK: Blood Moon

AUTHOR: Teri Harman (www.teriharman.com)

NUMBER OF PAGES: 350

YEAR PUBLISHED: 2013
PUBLISHER: Jolly Fish Press

GENRE: Young Adult

SUMMARY: Willa and Simon have grown up feeling out of touch with society because of a magic housed deep inside them - Willa's sees ghosts and dreams future events and Simon feels others emotions and can heal with a touch. It isn't until a chance meeting in Willa's hometown, Twelve Acres, that the two teens find out that they are actually witches. As an unexplained and powerful magic pull them together, they have to choose to put away their simple lives and dreams to become part of true Light Covenant, joined together forever with 10 other witches. If they don't, the Dark witches may send Twelve Acres and the rest of their world back into the dark ages.

Teri Harman

Check out the Book Trailer:

REVIEW: We were lucky enough to get the author, Teri Harman, to come IN PERSON to our magical night! Nearly everyone dressed in their witchiest attire, including Teri, while we ate our magically-inspired food. Since Teri was there, we spent a bulk of the evening getting to know her and getting behind the scenes info on all things Blood Moon (see Q&A below). Check out and download the fun PowerPoint created by our moderator, Kelly HERE.

As we talked with Teri, we discovered that many of the questions we had with Blood Moon will be answered in Book #2: Black Moon. We all want to know what is going to happen with poor Simon. We also want to know more about Amelia and Solace.

Storm Moon will be Book #3 – which Teri admitted she has yet to write. We all tried to give her ideas, though :). She also admitted she is not an outliner when she writes. She is a discovery writer, meaning she the story is created as she writes.

We discussed soul mates and the relationship between Willa and Simon. We thought it was beautiful to read about their instant connection. Teri compared Willa and Simon's connection to how she met her husband at a young age and eventually started dating him. Delicious Reader, Karen, admitted she felt the same way about her husband too. We wondered about the reader response Teri has gotten about starting the book straight off with Simon and Willa. Teri wanted everyone to understand right at the start that Simon and Willa have an unbreakable bond, that may be challenged, but it is solid. She wanted people to get that this story wouldn't be about some cliche love triangle, but that it would be about the magical story of all the characters.

Teri told us that she wrote Blood Moon not thinking about readers, but wrote the story that she saw. When she started Black Moon, she started to think about readers and after 45,000 words she had to throw it all out and start the story over because she was trying to do something that wasn't right. She quoted Stephen King, “Write with the door closed. Re-write with the door open.” So she wrote the first draft without paying attention to anyone else and not reading people's reviews of her book.

Teri met real witches before Blood Moon came out. She went to Salem and talked with some real witches that truly believe their magic comes from the earth and you can manipulate the earth to make things happen. She compared spells to the Christian version of prayer.

We all loved the idea of the 6 magic gifts:

Each of us took the “Which Witch Are You” quiz to find out which type of magic we would have.

Q&A with Teri Harman

1. Where did you grow up?

Kansas City, Kansas, Miami (for 2.5 years), and Utah (since 12 years old)

2. Have you always enjoyed writing?

Yes! I've always loved writing even as a child. My first story was about a cow, which I dictated to my mom and she typed on her electric typewriter when I was four or five.

3. Where did your inspiration for Blood Moon come from?

A Halloween party. Every year I host a witch themed Halloween party for the women in my family. In 2010, I found an incredible location - a 100 year old school house out in the middle of nowhere. The Camp Floyd School House was so perfect I needed a party to match. I started reading up on witches and magic to get ideas for the party, but was so fascinated by what I read that it soon became inspiration for a novel.

4. What was your publishing experience like?

The first book I tried to publish didn't work out, but I was able to get an agent for Blood Moon. A year later, we still hadn't found a publisher, but my brother was at a BYU conference and saw Jolly Fish Press. We sent my stuff off and they agreed to publish. All together it took me 6 years and over 100 rejections before I saw my first novel published.

5. Tell us what it’s been like to be a “Mom Author.”

It's chaos! But it's also great. I have to be disciplined, but also flexible to get everything done that I need to everyday. I love being at home for my kids, but am so glad I have my own pursuits as well - it keeps me sane. And luckily I have wonderful kids and an extremely helpful husband.

6. Tell us about your other book, “A Painted Life”

This book is very dear to my heart. I wrote it while BLOOD MOON was on submission and I was wondering if my dream would ever be realized. This is Saffron's story. Saffron is a painting - a girl in a painting who is alive. She wants nothing more than to escape her prison of oil and canvas to live a normal life. A normal life with the man she loves, Emmett Charles. The book is set in the late 1890's in Boston and is part literary fiction, part magic realism, part romance. I can't wait for reader's to read it!

7. What other hobbies or interests do you have?

I am addicted to stories. I read a LOT! I also love watching TV series and movies. I enjoy yoga, dancing and biking. We also love to travel and be in the great outdoors. And when the mood strikes me, I love to cook.

8. What are your favorite movies/TV Shows?

Call the Midwife (Netflix), Walking Dead, Sherlock, Downton Abbey, North and South (BBC), Wuthering Heights (BBC with Tom Hardy), The Big Bang Theory. The best witch movies I've seen are Practical Magic and Hocus Pocus. There are so many non-witch movies--its so hard to choose. An oldie but goodie is Sense and Sensibility (Emma Thompson one), The River Wild, The Decoy Bride, Love Actually, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Edward Scissorhands, I'm also a sucker for old movies and musicals.

I'm kind of a geek too so we love Doctor Who, Battlestar Galatica, and some of my favorite movies are the old Star Trek movies. I grew up on them, but I'm sure people who watch them now are saying, "What is wrong with you?!" I watched The Next Generation and probably have seen every episode at least five times.

9. Do you have a favorite witch book? Other than your own ;)

My favorite witch writer is Paula Brackston. She actually has two books out right now The Witch's Daughter and The Winter Witch. The Winter Witch just came out this spring. Her books have natural magic--they are like historical fiction/supernatural thriller. I hope she comes out with lots of them.

10. What books have you enjoyed that you think would make a good book club book?

We have a book club and we've read The Thirteenth Tale, The Book Thief, Big in Japan, Eleanor & Park (watch out for swearing and sexual content), The Snow Child, The Light Between Oceans.

11. Tell us about your book launch at The King's English.

That was one of the surreal, dream days because I go to the King's English all the time. It's my favorite book store. Every time I've stepped in there or gone to an author event, there was always in the back of my head, "I really want it to be me! Why isn't it me yet?" So that day was surreal and perfect. The King's English had a cake made with the book cover image. I didn't even know they were going to do that.

12. Which Witch gift would you choose?

I would have to say Willa's gift because a lot of the scenes in the book were inspired by my own dreams. That's why I gave her that gift. That's where it all began. The hand reaching out - that was a dream I had. I saw that hand. Also, the part where Willa is running through the forest and the sky shatters and falls. That was a dream. When I was thinking of what her magical power would be I thought, "Let's make her a dreamer." She's not me, but that gift is what I would want.

CONTENT: 

*CONTENT CATEGORIES*	*RATING*
LANGUAGE/PROFANITY	NONE
SEXUALITY	MODERATE (kissing, caressing)
VIOLENCE	HEAVY (fighting, killing, abuse, animal cruelty)
DRUG/ALCOHOL USE	MILD
INTENSE/SCARY SCENES	MODERATE (dark magic, lots of suspense)