Merry Wanderer of the Night [Search results for e-readers] 

Yesterday I actually went out and bought Barnes and Noble's nook. The nook and the Kindle are actually the same price, but right now Barnes and Noble is offering a $50 gift card to anyone who is buying the nook and that was an offer I just couldn't pass up. Plus I liked the fact that I could try out the nook in the store whereas with the Kindle I'm ordering it without trying it. And my local Barnes and Noble is offering a class on Tuesday night for people who want to learn more about their nooks. There are some features the Kindle has that the nook does not, but overall I'm happy with my purchase.

Over Christmas my parents were really adamant that I take another look at e-readers, but I told them I just couldn't give up on having physical books. I just love the feeling of having a book in my hand, turning the pages, and books are my favorite way to decorate. I just love to be surrounded by them. That was all well and good, until I moved out of my dorm last month and realized that my book situation is a little out of control. I had two bookshelves in my dorm room and then I moved back to boxes and boxes of books here. So in May I decided that an e-reader might not be such a bad idea, especially for mass market paperback books that I honestly don't really need to keep. Really most of the popular fiction books I need, I don't need to have the physical book. I still wasn't entirely convinced though, so what made me change my mind?

What actually made me change my mind was a Books on the Nightstand podcast with Melissa Klug who works in the paper industry and the company she works for actually makes paper for books. There was a really interesting exchange between Melissa and one of the hosts Ann Kingman about e-readers and paper in the age of the e-reader. What made me decide that I wanted to get a nook while listening to this podcast was Ann (I think) said there are some books she wants in physical form and some books that it's okay to have in digital format. This probably makes me look kind of stupid, but that comment really changed my thinking about e-readers. This whole time I've been thinking you either read everything on an e-reader or you read everything in book form, but it doesn't have to be that way. You can buy books in physical form and you can have an e-reader for the books you don't want to have forever. Essentially, you can have your cake and eat it too. This was a really exciting idea for me and so yesterday I finally took the plunge. I've had my nook for less than 24 hours so I still have a lot to explore on it. In a few weeks I'll probably post an actual review of the nook so be sure to check back for that.

Just in case you missed anything this week I reviewed Just Kids by Pattie Smith, This Book is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All by Marilyn Johnson. I also did my second post in my Summer Internship series, a May Wrap-Up, and I had a guest post about how to read and review graphic novels. Overall it was a pretty eventful week at English Major's Junk Food so be sure to take a look at what you missed!

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Today's interview is with a writing duo. Yvonne and Sandy have written quite a few books together and while I've only read two of them so far, they have both been lots of fun to read, and exactly what I was looking for at the time. Lots of fun, a little bit of fluff and just overall enjoyable.

What is it like writing as a team? How do you get past disagreements on pieces of the story?

We've been writing as a team for over a decade, and it’s still fun. The toughest part is picking one of many ideas floating like balloons over our heads, and focusing on just one.

Over the span of 10 books, we’ve had to develop a three-stage technique to shoot down each other’s ideas in a way that isn’t hurtful:
1. Listen to the entire idea, nodding and smiling;
2. Offer lukewarm praise; and
3. Present new idea so obviously superior that the first one is instantly forgotten.

Seriously, though, you can’t get too attached to your ideas when you’re a team. You have to trust than another, better one will come along, because it always does.

How did the two of you meet? How did you decide to become writing partners?

We met as teens working in a public library. We were friends for years—and even roommates after college—and the idea of writing together never occurred to us. But one day, Yvonne went looking for a non-fiction book for her nieces to answer their questions about relationships with boys, friends and family. She couldn't find a book with the right, light-hearted tone, so she suggested we write one. That led to Totally Me: The Teenage Girl’s Survival Guide. It was a natural fit, since we've spent our entire friendship talking about relationships with boys, friends and family.

Have either of you written alone? Or written with a different partner?

We've only collaborated with each other. In some cases one of us has written “more” of a particular book than the other person, depending on our schedules. But we developed our voice together, so I doubt anyone could tell who wrote what. In fact, sometimes we compliment each other on our own lines, forgetting we wrote them!

What are the differences to writing alone vs as a team and what are some advantages/disadvantages to both styles.

A huge advantage to collaborating is simply the “we're in it together” feeling. It’s nice to share the highs and lows of publishing, and the weight of deadlines. The only disadvantage—other than the loss of full creative control!—is that you have two schedules to coordinate. We have other jobs and commitments and they don’t always sync up as we’d like.

Why Contemporary?

We started out that way and just kept going. Spending time with our teen friends keeps us grounded in the present and we’re intrigued by the challenges they face.

But to be honest, we have always wanted to give paranormal a try and soon... we will! Expect something a little different from Collins-Rideout in a few months.

I've heard talk that *Love, Inc.* is actually a series. Is there any truth to that rumor? If so, is there any information you can share with us?

Yes! We just released the sequel to Love, Inc. It’s called Trade Secrets, and it will soon be available across all electronic platforms. You can already find it on Amazon

Here’s a short overview:

Kali Esposito and her best friends Syd and Zahra revive Love, Inc. to help the lovelorn break-up, make-up or take-up with someone new. A die-hard romantic, Kali can turn the most socially-challenged clients into confident charmers and the “Kali Method” takes Love, Inc. to new heights. But when a competitor corrupts her method to turn regular guys into players, Kali must reclaim Love, Inc.’s trade secrets before every girl in Austin gets her heart broken.

Speaking of sequels/series, are they harder to write than the first book? Do you *like* them or do you prefer writing a standalone story?

The challenge with sequels is trying to recap the first book for new readers without boring returning readers, who already know the back story. But on the whole, sequels are easier to write in that you’ve already developed the key characters, and their world. Our favorite book of all is the third book in the Vivien Leigh Reid series: Diva in Control. By that point, we’d hit our stride and could just enjoy getting poor Leigh into trouble. We’d still love to do a sequel to The Black Sheep. Judy is our most obnoxious villain ever—she deserves another outing.

What made you decide to self-publish Trade Secrets? Will you continue to self-publish all your future books? Will Trade Secrets also be released in a hard copy edition (I'd love to have a hardcover to match Love, Inc!)

It all started when Sandy bought a Kobo for her mom for Christmas... and kept it for herself. If a hard-core book lover like Sandy can fall for an e-reader, it can happen to anyone.

So we started researching e-publishing, and it just seemed to suit our needs. First, you can get books out faster. We have always wanted to write more than one book a year, and also, different types of books. Now, with e-publishing, it’s a lot easier to follow your heart—as long as you hire experts to rein you in! We’re pretty excited by this new opportunity and expect to e-pub our next few books. But we've been around the book biz long enough to know that you have to stay flexible.

If there’s enough interest in paper copies of Trade Secrets, we’ll look into making that option available.

Is there anything you can share with us about your current work in progress or upcoming stories?

We’re working on a bunch of projects right now, including a paranormal novel, and possibly, if people enjoy Trade Secrets, more from our Love, Inc. trio. It seems like their story wouldn't complete without another cycle of revenge hits, led by Sydney Stark.

We love hearing from readers, so please join us on twitter @collins_rideout or visit our websites: collinsrideout.com and loveincbook.com

Thank you both, so very much! I loved hearing from you and I'm definitely excited to read Trade Secrets! Hopefully, I will have a review up soon! I haven't had a chance to read the book yet, but I do have some copies to giveaway!! Yvonne and Sandy have generously offered copies of three of their novels as giveaway prizes! Enter below! The hard copies are US/CND only but the ecopies are International!
*edit — I can't believe I forgot the Rafflecopter widget! SO sorry! I will still allow those who entered through the comments to maintain that as their entry, because this is my error, but anyone entering now needs to use the widget!*

Last weeks Memory Monday post was a list of Contemporary books that I feel are a great introduction to the genre for younger readers. Today's post is a list of books for older readers that I think can make Contemporary lovers out of anyone. It's not really a memory, I suppose, but I have very fond memories/experiences with all of these, so I'm counting it.:)

Not all of these books will be for every reader. But I'm pretty confident that there is at least something among this rather large list for everyone. And I have read all of these and will personally vouch for their insane levels of awesome. Also, this is in no way a complete list. It was impossibly hard narrowing down the books I included, so if you want or need more recommendations, seriously ask away. I am more than happy to share the books that (unfortunately) didn't make this list.

Melina Marchetta. I know I'm already cheating, that Melina Marchetta is a person, not a book, but she is one of my all-time favorite authors. Her book Jellicoe Road not only won a Printz award, but it's also an absolutely stunning and amazingly brilliant book. But, I do recognize that it's not for everyone and sometimes it works for people new to Contemporary and sometimes it doesn't. But I do absolutely and always recommend Saving Francesca and The Piper's Son. They are a bit more accessible to some people but they are no less amazing. Anything by Marchetta will introduce you to people you can't help but love. And the reading experience is never easy, but it is so completely worth it.

The Day Before by Lisa Schroeder is a book that I recommend to everyone. It is, in my opinion, a perfect starter book. It's written in verse (which I adore and push/promote every chance I get) and the story that Lisa tells is so stunning, so amazing and just so beautifully brilliant that I don't know how you could not fall in love. And it's a book I've already recommended to several non verse and non Contemporary readers, and I have not talked to any of them who haven't loved it yet.

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly isn't straight Contemporary and I think it will appeal to fans of both Contemporary and Historical Fiction. While the book is set during the now, the main character, Andi, finds an old diary and becomes completely invested in the life of a young woman who lived during the French Revolution. And Andi is one of the most painful characters I've ever read. I physically hurt while reading this book because Andi's pain is so intensely real and it's one of the best books I read last year.

Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick is one that I read just recently but can't seem to stop thinking about or talking about. This book is a lot of things, all of which are amazing, but more than anything else, watching the absolute love between these two brothers broke my heart and put it back together again bigger and richer than it was before. I understand that not everyone can read this book. My older sister has children around the same age as the main character and literally cannot read books that deal with children with diseases or death. But it is such a phenomenal and powerful book that I would recommend it strongly to anyone who can. An absolutely beautiful book.

Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert is a hard book to read. It's a very hard story about a girl who finds herself slipping so far into a world of drugs and alcohol and cutting that she very nearly loses herself completely. It's painfully realistic in its portrayal of the life Kara finds herself living but it is also so powerfully written that you can't deny its impact or its message. And there are stories within the story. Many of the secondary characters who are especially important to the narrator have a chance to share their own stories, in a series of personal ballads and while the whole book is brilliant, those pieces especially made this book so perfect. This was a game changing book for me. It taught me a lot about myself and about life and it's one that I think people need to be more aware of.

No list introducing readers to Contemporary YA would be complete without Sarah Dessen. She's got quite a few books under her belt and so many people absolutely love her. I put of reading anything by her for a long time because I assumed it was too romance-y for my taste (and I was sniffabove books like that) but I started reading them last year and now I own them all. She really is an amazing author. I haven't read all of her books yet, I'm only about halfway through, but my two favorites are The Truth About Forever and Just Listen. Dessen has this way of writing a story that straddles the border between light-hearted fun and serious topics. She's pretty much brilliant and a must read within the genre.

The Disreputable History of Frankie-Landau Banks by E. Lockhart is one of the wittiest, smartest books I've ever read. Frankie is one of the best main characters I have ever read. And it has the word disreputable in the title. Seriously.

Laurie Halse Anderson is another author that I think needs to be read. Her books deal with heavy subject matter but are important and powerful. Speak, Twisted and Wintergirls have all found a place on my favorites shelf.

I don't think there are enough genuinely funny books out there, so if you are looking for more light-hearted, fun, laugh your face off in public books, you should definitely try Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway about a girl whose life becomes a media circus after her ex-boyfriend writes a breakup song about her that goes viral & rockets to the top of all the charts (yay for music in books!). Babe in Boyland by Jody Gehrman is also absolutely hysterical. It has a similar plot to the movie She's the Man with Amanda Bynes except instead of soccer it's "investigative journalism" but it's seriously laugh-out-loud funny and there was more than one time that I had to stop reading because I was getting funny looks from the people sitting around me. Man its hard to breathe when you are laughing that hard! Yvonne Collins and Sandy Rideout have also written some really cute and fun books together. I've only read Girl v. Boy and Love, Inc. but both were super fun and entertaining. Definitely a fun way to spend a few hours.:)

And, of course, I can't not mention the phenomenon that is Stephanie Perkins. I can't tell you how many reviews I've seen that talk about — not being a Contemporary reader, but then I read this and!!!!!. Seriously you guys. Anna and the French Kiss is a book that has a little something in it for everyone. It's super cute, but the characters are also real people who do have issues beyond what they are going to wear that day, or whether or not super cute guy likes them. This is a book about real life without being heavy or emotionally draining. Something about Stephanie's writing makes the story reality to everyone reading. Definitely one you should check out. I can't think of anyone off hand that I would not recommend this one too. It's companion novel, Lola and the Boy Next Door is also completely full of win.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher is another book that I think many people, Contemporary readers or not, can get caught up in reading, but more than that, I also think it is a book that more people should be reading. It's a story that makes us accountable, even if only to ourselves, about what type of person we are and makes us recognize on a deeper level that what we do really does affect other people, that our choices impact others and we have no way of knowing what they are going through right now. Teenagers especially need to read this, need to recognize and understand that life isn't only about them and that other people matter too.

This is only the tip of the iceberg. There are so many wonderfully amazing books that I had to leave off this list. Books like Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King or Harmonic Feedback by Tara Kelly, The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson, Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler, Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John, Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson and on and on. The Contemporary Genre has so much to offer readers. So very, very much. And I hope that you give it a chance, give it the opportunity to show you what it's made of, to show you what it really can do.

I'm the proud owner of a Sony Reader (PRS 505). I've owned my Reader for about a year now, and I can't say enough about this amazing gadget. I'm a frequent traveler, and my Reader has lightened my load considerably.

The Reader's specs can be found on the Sony Web site. The PRS 505 Reader can now be purchased for $279. The PRS 700 BC, the next generation Reader, features an interactive touch screen display and built-in light. The 700 can be purchased for $349. The Reader is compatible with several different file formats, including Word & PDF. You simply have to import these documents into your library via your computer.

Amazon has releases two new Kindles in the past few months, the Kindle 2 ($359) and the Kindle DX ($489). The Kindle allows you to download books wirelessly and has a new Read to Me Feature. You can add your personal files to your Kindle, but you must pay a per document delivery fee.

The Kindle DX can display textbooks, and Amazon hopes that this will entice students to purchase it. I remember my college days, and I could barely afford my textbooks. I'm not certain students will be able to afford the $489 price tag, plus the cost of the textbooks. I could be wrong.

Now, I must state that I haven't had the opportuny to test drive the Kindle, but I'm hopelessly devoted to my Sony Reader. I'm not a fan of the "control" Amazon has over the books that you can purchase for it, and the fact it is only sold in the States astounds me. Perhaps, given the chance to test the Kindle, my opinion might change, but don't plan on it.

Let me finish by stating that yes, I still read "traditional" books, and no, I do not believe they are bordering on extinction. There will always be a use for traditional books.

e-Book readers simply make reading while traveling easier and make multiple books more portable. I receive on average 25 galleys or advance reading copies per month. Think about all the space I would save if those books were available electronically (and my husband would stop pulling his hair out at the site of books piled all over our home).

Thanks to Anna at Hachette Books, I have an amazing selection of audiobooks to give away!
I have three copies each of the following titles:

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE (Unabridged)

By James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge, read by Dallas Roberts and Bobby Cannavale

Detective Bennett realizes he has just hours to save New York from the greatest disaster in its history. From the #1 bestselling author who introduced readers to Alex Cross and the Women's Murder Club-comes the continuation of his newest, electrifying series.

Available in CD and Digital Download formats.

Also available in hardcover and e-book.

DROOD (Abridged)

By Dan Simmons, read by Simon Prebble

DROOD explores the still-unsolved mysteries of the famous author's last years and may provide the key to Dickens's final, unfinished work: The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Chilling, haunting, and utterly original, DROOD.

Available in CD and Digital Download formats.

Also available in hardcover and e-book.

Listen to the excerpts:

Excerpt No. 1, Excerpt No. 2, Excerpt No. 3, and Excerpt No. 4.

Get an OpenBook™ Widget for your site.

Listen to an excerpt.

Listen to the Podcast.

MAX (Unabridged)

By James Patterson, read by Jill Apple

Comfortable in their new safe house, Max and the rest of the Flock finally begin to feel optimistic about their newly-gained freedom. Then the Machine Geeks appear--part machine, part human, totally destructive. They are in the service of an ominous Mr. Chu, who has his eyes on the Flock and their unique abilities. And if he can't have them, he'll make sure nobody else can either!

Available in CD and Digital Download formats.

Also available in hardcover, hardcover in a large print, and e-book.

Listen to an excerpt.

WOMEN'S MURDER CLUB

James Patterson and Maxine Paetro, read by Jeremy Piven, Suzanne Toren, Carolyn McCormick, and Melissa Leo"Now, for the first time, the first three books in this series are available in an audio box set that will delight fans of the series, as well as anyone intrigued by thrilling mystery stories that feature strong women characters..."

RULES:

• To be entered once, comment on this post! Be sure to indicate which audiobook(s) you are interested in winning!
  
• To be entered twice, blog about it. Be sure to include a link to your posting in your comment.
  
• To be entered three times, tweet about this contest (be sure to send me a link to your tweet).
• To be entered four times, become a follower/subscriber!
• US and Canadian residents only. No P.O. Boxes, please!
• Please provide an email address in your comment. Any entries without email addresses will be deleted.
  

Contest will end Saturday, April 18. Winner will be announced on this blog.

Jabberwocky by Daniel Coleman is the story behind the well-beloved poem by Lewis Carrol of the same name. Full of nonsense words, valor and whimsy, the poem Jabberwocky tells of a boy who sets out to fight the might beast and who returns triumphant, bearing the head of the great monster. But the poem doesn't tell us anything about the boy, where he comes from or why he sets out to hunt the Jabberwock and Coleman uses this story here to fill in some of the blanks.

My family has always been involved in theater, and my family reunions often include some form of a talent show, sometimes planned and scripted, other times completely spontaneous. Often in the performances, my dad would go on-stage with my grandpa and together they would perform this poem. My grandpa would stand in front and recite the poem, while my dad stood behind, using his arms, in place of my grandpa's to act out the poem (this included lifting up my grandpa's hair piece when they reached the part of the poem where the boys slays the Jabberwock and removes his head, much to my grandpa's dismay)

So, when I heard about this book, I knew that I wanted to read it. I love that poem, partly because it is brilliant but also because it brings back a lot of wonderful memories of my family. This is a very short book, just over 100 e-pages, and it reads very quickly. However, I don't think it would read as smoothly for someone who is unfamiliar with either nonsense writing or the poem itself.

One of my favorite things about this book is also what I think will be most challenging for most readers. Coleman has taken the words of the poem like 'wabe', 'brillig' and 'mimsy'. None of these words actually means anything, but Coleman took them from the original poem, took the meaning from them that he chose and inserted them into his story and I personally think he did a phenomenal job. Partly because the writing was very smooth, and partly because I'm very familiar with the poem, I found myself without any trouble being able to guess to the meaning of each word as I went through, even if I didn't know exactly what they meant. However, Coleman does include a glossary with the book, so if you think you will have trouble picking up on what the words mean, or you find yourself confused, he does include a way to verify what each word means.

Another thing that I loved about the book was the inclusion of the poem itself. Each section of the book is prefaced by a stanza of the poem, offering some foreshadowing of what is yet to come. I thought it was the perfect way to incorporate the poem into the story without being awkward or forced.

And the story itself was wonderful. Our main character, Tjaden, is the perfect boy to seek the Jabberwock. He is brave, but smart and fiercely determined to prove himself a man. He's a little bit full of himself at times, and he takes life a little too seriously for someone so young but he is also a very likable character, one you would want on your side of life. Honorable and proud, if given the right motivation, he could face the Jabberwock alone.

Honestly, I could not have been happier with how this book turned out. I was almost worried about reading it, because I do have such fond memories of the poem, but I was beyond delighted with how the book turned out. Coleman did a fabulous job combining his own story with the tale from Lewis Carroll and it's one I can see myself reading again.

I will admit that part of why I enjoyed this book so much comes from the memories it brought to surface and the already positive tone I have toward the poem and anything tied to it. I tend to be extremely fond of anything that can bring back positive memories of my grandpa, which means I knew before I started reading that this is a book I would either love or hate.

That being said, however, the happy memories alone were not enough to make me like this book. The story and the writing were able to hold their own and they most certainly did this favored poem a great justice. I'm not always a huge fan of how other people reimagine stories already told but I thought this one was just about as perfect as it gets.

So thank you Daniel Coleman, for writing a story worthy of such a phenomenal poem.

As I mentioned in my Teaser Tuesday post, I have a great bunch of giveaways lined up to celebrate my 200th post!

The first "official" 200th post giveaway is for a copy of AFRAID, by Jack Kilborn. Check out my review here. Thanks to Brianne @ Hachette Book Group, I have FIVE copies to give away to my loyal readers.

To enter, please answer the following question: What is the thing that you are most afraid of?

• For additional entries, please blog/tweet about it. Please be sure to include a link to your blog/tweet in your comment.
  
• All comments MUST contain an email address. Any comments without will be automatically deleted.
• Contest runs through Friday, May 29th. Winner will be announced Monday, June 1st.
• Contestants must reside in US or Canada only, please.
• No P.O. Boxes.
• Books will be sent directly from the publisher.

And that's not all! You all know I'm a huge fan of e-books! Hachette has also provided an exclusive free ebook download! The book is called SERIAL, a terrifying tale of hitchhiking gone terribly wrong by Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch. SERIAL is a horror novella. Like a deeply twisted version of an “After School Special,” it is the single most persuasive public service announcement on the hazards of free car rides.

The SERIAL eBook also contains a Q&A with Kilborn and Crouch, author bibliographies, and excerpts from their most recent and forthcoming works: Kilborn’s Afraid and Crouch’s Abandon.

Please click here to access the eBook. SERIAL is located under "Book Extras" in the bottom right-hand corner. You can download it either as a PDF file or there's also an ePub version of the book (the Sony eBook Reader format).

This marks the last of our interviews conducted by Bonnie from A Backwards Story (for this year, at least). Today she is chatting with author Tia Nevitt, whose novella, The Sevefold Spell, is catching many eyes with it's pretty cover.
Check it out:

Tia Nevitt is the author of The Sevenfold Spell, an e-book novella centered in the world of Sleeping Beauty. The novel features a girl and her mother whose lives are destroyed when their spinning wheel is taken away from them and shows what they must do in order to survive. For a review of Tia’s book, please visit A Backwards Story.

~ What were your favorite fairy tales growing up? What drew you to them?
My favorite was Cinderella, mostly because of Leslie Ann Warren in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. They played it every spring while I was growing up for a number of consecutive years. The Disney version also hit the theaters when I was a girl, but I didn’t like it as much. Nowadays, I understand why—too much focus on the cute animals, and not enough focus on Cinderella. But really—there’s only so much plot to work with. I’m having the same difficulty now with my Cinderella retelling!
Later, when I was about ten or so, I discovered Beauty and the Beast, and that became my favorite. This was mostly because we had a beautifully illustrated version of it, and also because the story was more complex with a more admirable heroine.

~ What made you decide to write The Sevenfold Spell from a villager's POV?
I didn’t really. The Sevenfold Spell is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty, and I wanted to write from the point of view of the woman who owned the spinning wheel. Many readers have thought of her as a villager, but I actually envisioned her as living in a tiny neighborhood in the capital city—right where all the action takes place. But the reader is always right!
I wanted to explore the spinster’s point-of-view because I wondered what became of all the spinsters after the spinning wheels were banned. I was watching Disney’s Sleeping Beauty with my daughter and the plight of the spinsters seemed like such a good seed for a story. I wanted to show how everything in Talia’s life changed with the loss of her spinning wheel—her whole future was bound up in it. It happens incrementally, first the loss of an income, which results in the loss of her dowry, which results in the loss of her betrothed, at which time she begins to despair. I tried to put myself in the mindset of a fatherless young lady who is very unattractive, faced with a long life ahead of her with only a cranky mother for company. The only man who ever looked at her must leave… What would she do in search of happiness?
One of the ideas I had from the start is that Sleeping Beauty would actually be Sleeping Ugly. Therefore, I made Talia to be Aurora’s opposite. Where Aurora is beautiful, privileged, dreamy and pure, Talia is unattractive, poor, pragmatic—and sensual. I realize that’s a bit unusual, but a mousy and shy spinster would have been too much of a cliché, and besides, sometimes the character’s choices lead the author, which is very much what happened in this case.

~ Will future books in the Accidental Enchantments series be from alternate POVs as well? Can you tell us about what you're working on now?
Yes, they will all be from the point-of-view of people who are caught up in the magic. Right now, I’m working on Cinderella. It’s from the point-of-view of a dressmaker’s niece, whose leg is lame, and who is hounded by an unscrupulous moneylender. She makes a bargain with a certain fairy godmother, but trouble starts when one of the crystal slippers turn up missing. For my Snow White story, the prince is the one who is accidentally enchanted, so he is one of the point-of-view characters. But most of the story takes place from the point of view of one of the dwarves—who happens to be a woman. I also have some ideas for Beauty and the Beast, but they are too unformed to go into detail.

~ Was it hard coming up with your own lore when you began world-building for The Sevenfold Spell? How did you bring everything together, especially the way you created the Sevenfold Spell itself?
The Sevenfold Spell itself came straight from the fairy tale, except I believe there were originally twelve blessings, and they weren’t bound up together. Perrault only details a few of the blessings in his version of Sleeping Beauty. I settled on seven because I wanted a prime number. Five was too few, and eleven was too many. Why a prime number? It just seemed to me that if you were going to have some magical numbers, then there ought not be very many of them. Technically, there are an infinite number of prime numbers, but that infinite number is going to be much fewer than the number of ordinary numbers out there, even though they are both infinite. And since that dichotomy makes no sense at all, but nevertheless is, it seemed perfect for magic.
The rest of the lore came from the many plot holes in Sleeping Beauty. Why could each fairy only cast one spell upon Aurora? Why could the evil fairy’s spell not be undone? Why a hundred year sleep? And why would Aurora touch the spinning wheel?

~ What are some of your favorite fairy tale inspired novels and/or authors?
When I sat down to write The Sevenfold Spell, I didn’t go out and buy up a bunch of fairy tale retellings, like I probably should have done. I just sat down and wrote it. I wanted to write the retelling that I wanted to read. What I did do was read all the Sleeping Beauty versions that I could find, which is where I got Talia’s name. (I didn’t keep anything else from that version because it’s very strange.)
I did read Patricia Wrede’s Snow White and Rose Red years ago, which I kept for all this time so my daughter could read it one day.

~ If you could live out any fairy tale, what would it be and why?
Probably Beauty and the Beast, because nothing awful actually happens to Beauty! Cinderella would have had to live through either her father’s death or neglect (depending on the version you read), Snow White would have had to put up with the evil queen’s jealousy and abuse, and Sleeping Beauty was just so passive. Beauty gets to be heroic (in sacrificing herself for her father), but her punishment is to live in luxury in a castle while falling in love. I’ll take that one!
I certainly didn’t follow the fairy-tale formula in my own life. I didn’t really make an attempt to find a Prince Charming, which is probably why I found one. I left home when I was eighteen to join the military, where I ended up launching and recovering jets with my future husband. From that experience, you’d think I’d be writing military sci-fi or something. And although I had a few ideas along those lines, none were strong enough to engage me long enough to write a novel—or even a novella. Maybe I haven’t thought of the right plot yet.

~ What's your favorite Disney rendition of a fairy tale? What makes it so special?
Beauty and the Beast. It had all the right ingredients. The original story had plenty of plot, a self-sacrificing heroine, and a tragic hero; Disney added terrific animation, a great cast, and marvelous music. But the best part about it was Gaston. The original plot lacked a true villain, and the addition of an arrogant, handsome villain who had everything that Beast didn’t have was inspired. The guy who sang Gaston (Richard White, according to IMDB) was perfect.
The only flaw in the movie is that Belle actually called Beast “Beast”. Bleh.

~ What was your biggest surprise in your publishing journey?
That this story was accepted at all. This was my first attempt to submit this version of the story to a publisher. I had recently expanded it from a short story—which I had been unable sell anywhere—to a novella, and I sent it to my first choice publisher. I expected the same thing that had happened before—a rejection within a few weeks or months. I was really surprised to get a phone call, instead!