Showing posts with label mystery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mystery. Show all posts

Friday 15 July 2011

Author: Shawn Maravel

Shawn Maravel was born in a small New Jersey town parked right smack dab in the middle of farm country. She has a twin sister and two kid sisters. When her husband joined the Army and was stationed in Germany she packed up her things and moved to Germany to be with him. Making the most of the Army life Shawn has traveled around Europe as much as possible and considers Germany home after spending the last two and a half years there. She spends most of her time reading, writing books, and spending time with her husband, faithful Rottweiler, and ninja cat.
In the book Volition Joel seems to enter Charlotte's life at just the right time, or just the wrong time, depending on who you ask. His easy charm and good looks are assumed by her friends to be Charlotte's biggest distraction in seeing him for who he really is. But the question isn't who he is, it's what.

His bright green eyes match Charlotte's exactly; his hair is the same chocolate brown. Are these just a coincidence or is there a reason for their similarities? Are they connected somehow? Well...that would be absurd...wouldn't it? Charlotte doesn't even know Joel. He's charming and sweet and has the air of innocence, yet he seems to know maybe just a little too much.

There's a fine line between mysterious and dangerous. But where does Joel fall? And why won't he tell Charlotte anything more than that he's "here to protect her." Well that definitely clarifies nothing. Sure she had a close call at the club a few nights ago and things could have ended badly but they didn't...right? Well, that's when Charlotte met Joel and she did happen to meet him in a dark hotel room after she'd passed out at said club. Wait. Now everything is just beyond confusing.

Joel seems honest and something in Charlotte's gut says that he's telling the truth...but what exactly has he told her apart from nothing?


What will readers like about your books?
I think that readers will like my characters and find them very relatable. In book one, Volition the story is built up, the characters developed, the plot and suspense begin, but in book two the action, romance, and suspense really take off. And in book two you really get a feel for the characters even more, discovering what they are willing to do for love and in some cases, revenge.


What inspired you to write them?
The first story I wrote, With Eyes That See I wrote when my husband, then boyfriend, enlisted in the Army. It was something to focus my attention on. That story was inspired by my grandfather who was diagnosed with glaucoma when he was in his early twenties. I am actually re-writing it now. Volition and Severance were similar, I started writing Volition when my husband deployed to Iraq for a year. It started off as one book, inspired by a question that I had asked myself one day, “Who loves you more than anyone else, puts you first, loves you for all that you are and has known you your entire life, putting their love for you before all else.” I developed characters and a plot from there. And soon one book became two books!


Do you have any new works in the pipeline?
I actually have one book called The Wanderer that I will be releasing in January. It is a story about a recently retired Army Veteran. It was originally inspired by my love for a man in uniform and how fabulous I think they look riding a motorcycle in uniform. Seriously…I cannot get enough of it. The main character, Landon Bradley is the kind of man who is not used to sticking around for too long in one place. He packs up his motorcycle and heads North West in search of peace and maybe even a place to finally settle down. But what he finds in a small Wyoming town scares him.

Maxine Abrams, more affectionately known as Max makes him think that maybe he is the kind of man that can be loved, after so many years of thinking otherwise. In the end he must chose which call to heed, his heart or the open road. It really was a very fun story to write. It only took me two months actually. And I love Landon just as much as Max. I think that I created two very strong and believable characters, and a love story that will melt the hearts of my readers.

The story I am working on now, the re-write of With Eyes That See, is arguably my favorite, just because it is my first and re-writing it is something I kind of thought I had lost hope of ever doing. I mean, I wrote three books in between! You can read more about all of the books of course in greater detail on my blog.


Who are your favorite authors?
My favorite authors vary. I read mostly YA books and literary fiction. Those are the two genres that I write as well. For literary fiction I like Nicholas Sparks and Jodi Picoult, though I’ve only read one of Jodi Picoult’s books as of right now, Salem Falls which honestly blew me away. Very well written. And for young adult I like Stephenie Meyer the most, at this point in time. I’m not a crazy Twilight fan by any means but as a writer I envy her easy flow and her ability to write a story that is so fluid.

I didn’t read at all until I finished a book called The Wild Girl by Jim Fergus (I honestly read it just because I loved the cover so much) and it was really good though it was hard, as someone who didn’t read, to get through it. The next book I picked up was Twilight and by that point all four were already out and as someone who found reading difficult…I have never read a book so fast in my life, let alone four, even as someone who enjoys it now. In fact…I can thank those books in part for picking up writing again in the first place.


Tell us something about yourself that not many people know.
I don’t drink, at all. Not for any religious reason or family issues or anything like that. My twin sister and I just grew up very stubborn and just about anything that “everyone did” that was considered "cool", we rebelled against. So even to this day, at age 23 neither of us drink. Everyone I know personally knows this of course but it’s kind of a strange thing about me that always surprises people.


Thanks so much, Shawn!

You can find more information on Shawn and her writing in the following places:

AmazonAuthor Page
Twitter

Tuesday 28 June 2011

A Healthy Dose of Satire

Lisa Scullard has been writing novels since the age of 18, and has managed to scrape by otherwise without any relationships or permanent career. She has one daughter from a holiday she can't really remember properly, and her main job so far was nightclub bouncer full-time for seven years.



Hi Lisa! Can you tell us about your first novel, Living Hell.
Set in the fictional small suburban town of Jericho, in a world which took a religious wrong turn several hundred years ago and is currently mostly non-practising Satanist, a group of Youth Club volunteers try to organise a Halloween party. In between dealing with the local Press's fixation on an unresolved suicide, and day-to-day blackmail, 19-year-old Kim hooks up with Hellraisers frontman Alastair Brash - and all HIS problems. Which look like they're only just starting.




What do you think readers will like about the book?
It's about that post-adolescent stage in your life when school was pretty much over but nothing real has come along to replace it, and everything's awkward. Your parent's aren't part of your daily life anymore, so you find ways to get by on your own, and try not to be sucked into other people's gangs, groups or cult-type things.

I think a lot of people forget about how funny everything is at that age – there are no commitments, mortgages or 'lifestyle' to keep up with, and pretty much everything is spontaneous and weird.

Also it's a great mystery/action plot following the aftermath of a Halloween party, which takes place over only four days. I wanted to keep the story focused and create interesting characters that readers would want more stories about in future.

What inspired you to write it?
I wrote Living Hell when I was 18, aiming at my own age group - all there was to choose from when I was a teen was Judy Blume, Enid Blyton or Willard Price. Nothing was edgy or racy enough, and it was depressing. Gollancz and Pan MacMillan loved it, but wanted me to change the target audience to adult. Pan Mac asked me to write a sequel, but that only got to first draft stage before the editor handling it left. It was three years' waiting wasted, and I lost confidence for a long time after that.

I lived in a small village with boy racers and bikers amongst the locals, with nothing to do at weekends except pubs or the sports centre in a nearby town - not even a cinema within 30 miles, and the last bus anywhere was at 5.30pm. I also had Graves' Disease and was going back and forth to hospital appointments in London, and having various beta-blockers tested on me, none of which were working, and I couldn't get a job. My brothers and I read Pratchett, Tom Sharpe, watched sci-fi and comedy, and I wrote stories as escapism.

Do you have any new works in the pipeline?
I've also just published Death & The City in hardcover, paperback and eBook - a chick-lit backlash against traditional romance/crime stories. It's satire, dark, and due to get darker in follow-ups. It's about a female bouncer with a personality disorder who has to bump off contract killers identified through her usual job. Her head office set her up with a wingman, and she doesn't want to be manipulated or tied up in romantic cliches that other women would assume was part of the scenario. It's a bit postmodern in that sense.

I'm doing some illustrations at the moment, and writing a sequel to The Terrible Zombie Of Oz, as well as continuing the Death & The City "Tales Of The Deathrunners" series. I haven't got into the sales side of it, I don't want to - would rather just wait and see if readers like it without being pressurised into buying.

Who are your favourite authors?
Terry Pratchett and Tom Sharpe - for pure irreverence and style of humour. The laugh-out-loud even if you know you shouldn't sort.

Tell us something about yourself that not many people know.
While I was at school my only real ambition was to get married at 16, and have six children *fail* :) But at least I can say I've got further in writing fiction than I have in real life ambitions, even if I never sell many books :)

Lisa, you’re such a star. I already have two of your paperbacks on my bookshelf at home and you know I’m a big fan. It’s been a joy to have you here.

LIVING HELL was Lisa Scullard’s first completed novel, and is now available in both ebook and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords (Nook/Sony), Createspace (paperback) and Lulu (hardcover/dustjacket).

You can stalk find more out about Lisa here:
http://voodoo-spice.blogspot.com
On Twitter
On Youtube