Fantasy Dreamer's Ramblings

Hi everyone! Today, I have the pleasure of sharing an interview with Leslie Livingston, author of the YA Urban Fantasy Darklight (my review). And at the end of this interview you will find the details on the giveaway.

Hi Lesley! We'd like to know a little about you, please tell us about yourself.

Hi! Happy to! I am writer living in Toronto, Canada. I’m also an actor and a principal performer with a Shakespearian Theatre Company called Tempest Theatre Group.

I’m a Full-fledged Mythology Geek (seriously—I have a card in my wallet that says so), and I eat stories of the Otherworld, Faeries and King Arthur for breakfast. I have a Master’s Degree in English from the University of Toronto specializing in Shakespeare and Arthurian literature. For almost three years, I hosted weekly late-night movie marathons on the nationally broadcast television show, SPACEBAR, as the Waitron-9000, a sparkly holographic waitress with an encyclopedic knowledge of obscure B-movie trivia.

I am an unrepentant egghead—a character-trait that somehow doesn’t interfere with my deep love of shoes and shiny things.

Your Wondrous Strange trilogy to date includes Wondrous Strange, the first book and the latest release is Darklight, could you tell us about them?

My website does this far better than I can so, if you’ll forgive me, a wee bit of cut-and-paste here!

WONDROUS STRANGE:

Kelley Winslow is living her dream. Seventeen years old, she has moved to New York City and started work with a theatre company. Sure, she's an understudy for the Avalon Players, a third-tier repertory company so far off-Broadway it might as well be in Hoboken, but things are looking up—the lead has broken her ankle and Kelley's about to step into the role of Titania the Fairy Queen in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Faeries are far more real than Kelley thinks, though, and a chance encounter in Central Park with a handsome young man will plunge her into an adventure she could never have imagined.
For Sonny Flannery, one of the Janus Guards charged by Auberon, the King of Winter, with watching over the gate into the lands of Faerie that lies within Central Park, the pretty young actress presents an enigma. Strong and willful, she sparks against his senses like a firecracker and he can't get her out of his mind. As Hallowe'en approaches and the Samhain Gate opens, Sonny and Kelley find themselves drawn to each other—and into a terrible plot that could spell disaster for both New York and Faerie alike.

DARKLIGHT:

In this sequel to Wondrous Strange, Kelley Winslow finds her NYC acting career blossoming as she takes the lead in Romeo and Juliet. But she also finds herself desperately missing Sonny Flannery—who was forced back to the Faerie Otherworld, charged with a dangerous mission by Kelley’s father, King Auberon.

When Kelley finds herself thrown into the Otherworld following a deadly chase in Central Park, her passionate reunion with Sonny is cut short. Ancient magick is stirring, and a dangerous enemy has Sonny and Kelley caught in a web of Faerie deception that could tear their love apart.

I've always been curious as to why books will be a trilogy versus a series. Why did you decide to make the Wondrous Strange books a trilogy instead of a series?

I like the structure of a trilogy. It always feels to me (when it’s done properly) like the classical three-act structure of a play. In a trilogy, the first book introduces you to the characters and the world and, while the story should, ideally, resolve the conflict within that book itself, it should also open the doors to the larger overarching plot arc. Then in book two, you get a deepening of the themes and characters and knowledge of the world, and book three should bring it all together into a satisfying conclusion. I like that. Of course, there are also series that I love to read but there is a completely different set of structure rules you have to follow in that instance. Same goes for two-book stories and standalones.

How much research did you put into the Wondrous Strange trilogy? Did you draw on your own background in acting?

The acting stuff I didn’t really have to research because I’ve been doing that all my life! It’s part of my genetic makeup at this point. Same with Faerie Lore, because I’ve always been fascinated by the subject and have read everything about the Fair Folk that I could get my hands on since I was a kid.  I did have to do a lot of research when it came to the history and creation and construction of Central Park, and its features and landmarks—but I was more than happy to do it: because that meant I had to go to New York several times and it is one of my favorite places in the world!

What are your biggest influences in your writing?

Shakespeare. Arthurian legend. Classical and Celtic mythology. As for authors that have inspired me… Parke Godwin. Guy Gavriel Kay. Pauline Gedge. Jim Butcher (his stuff is so fun!). And, while I’m not necessarily influenced by her because I’ve only just started reading her stuff, I love Suzanne Collins. Her style of so readable and engaging. Love THE HUNGER GAMES.

Books covers are a big deal to the majority of readers and writers. Did you have any input on yours? Are you happy how your book covers turned out?

I’m ecstatic with my covers!! As far as I’m concerned, the design team at HarperCollins are a buncha’ freakin’ geniuses! I had no idea what they would come up with before I saw the actual images—they consulted me before casting and shooting about what qualities would I really want/ not want to see in whoever they chose as "Kelley"… did I picture her auburn hair as more strawberry red or a deeper shade (deeper), things like that—but that was pretty much the extent of my input other than to send along a few of the images that inspired me as I wrote (I forwarded a couple of pre-Raphaelite paintings and a few other scattered images that I had drawn on while writing).

But the designer really got the book. She understood the look and feel and she just ran with it. When, eventually, they sent me the image I was thrilled with it. Same with DARKLIGHT.

I haven’t seen the cover art for Book 3 yet… but I can’t wait!!

Without giving anything away, can you tell us what your favorite scene is from any one of your books?

I’m very fond of most scenes where Bob plays a part. He’s very entertaining and always unpredictable—even to me. But, I have to say that one of my absolute favorite scenes actually takes place fairly early on in WONDROUS STRANGE; it’s the first time Sonny and Kelley meet and it was great fun to write because, while Kelley is practicing her lines, there is this added layer of typically Shakespearian circumstance that she’s totally unaware of—the scene involves mistaken identity, hidden characters overhearing and misinterpreting, love-at-first-sight, a gallant gesture, and a sudden mystery… all stuff that was fodder for the Bard back in the day.

There’s also a scene in DARKLIGHT that has to do with one of my villains and a kick-butt fight scene that was a blast to write.

And there are a few scenes with Sonny that I’m particularly fond of…

And a scene in Book Three that… okay—I’ll stop now… ;-)

Can you share any of your future books plans with us?

Well, I just finished writing the third book in the WONDROUS STRANGE saga… and that is as far as this particular story arc goes with these particular characters. At the end of book three, Sonny and Kelley’s story will be wrapped up. I’m just not going to tell you how! ;-) And, of course, that certainly doesn’t preclude me writing other stories that are companions to this one. I’m certainly open to considering the possibility of another tale set in the WONDROUS universe, you know…

Also, I just recently signed on with Penguin Canada to write a novel called ONCE EVERY NEVER. It’s a story about a modern teen girl who spirals back in time to Rome's bloody conquest of Britain—where she befriends the daughter of a fiery queen, falls for a fierce warrior prince, and discovers that she may be the only hope of averting a devastating blood-curse. I’m really excited about it! It should hit store shelves some time in late summer 2011, so keep an eye out for that one!

If the worlds created in books were real, which book would you pick to live in?

Ooh. Interesting question. See… I love historical fiction, but I’m well aware that there were vastly different levels of hygiene in the past… and that’s problematic.

Rivendell sounds nice, but there’s always the threat of Sauron and his annoying Orc armies… and apparently Aragorn’s taken. Hmph.

If it were my own books? Well… the Otherworld is beautiful beyond imagination. Also, frequently chock full of dire peril. I think I’ll pick Manhattan. Where there’s a Gate to the Faerie Realm… and great shopping!

Thanks Donna! This was tremendous fun!

You’re welcome and thank you Lesley for the very fun and interesting interview!

Places you can find Lesley: Web Site | Blog | Twitter

Giveaway:

Thanks to Karen at Media Masters Publicity, one lucky commentator will win a copy of Darklight by Leslie Livingston. Here’s how to enter:

1. In the comments, tell us your favorite fairy tale or favorite mystical being.
2. Leave your email with your comment ONLY IF it is NOT part of your profile.
3. Open to the US and Canada.
4. Deadline to enter this giveaway is Sunday, February 14th at 8AM CST.

Good Luck!

I’m excited to have the lovely Kelly Gay here for a few questions today. Kelly’s fantastic Urban Fantasy The Better Part of Darkness will debut this coming Tuesday. My ramblings about this terrific read are here.

I want to share the pleasure of reading The Better Part of Darkness, that means a giveaway. One lucky commenter will get a copy for their own reading pleasure. Details are at the end of this post.

Hello Kelly!

First of all, tell us a little about yourself.
Well, let’s see… Just your average bookworm who loves to spend a lot of time in make-believe places. I have two kids, live in the ‘burbs with a Great Dane named Yeager and two very large cats (brother and sister). I’ve had a lot of random jobs through-out my life. I can drive a dump truck and a backhoe. I can tar and shingle a roof, and frame out a house. I can thread films through projectors, clean your house, wait on your table, and sell you men’s underwear (a talent, I tell you!). I spent several years working with horses – show barn manager, groom, exercise rider, but the best was playing nurse at a big breeding farm. I helped delivery sixty-five foals in one season.

THE BETTER PART OF DARKNESS is your debut novel, tell us about it.
BPOD takes place in Post Revelation Atlanta about a decade after two alternate dimensions, very similar to our idea of heaven and hell, are discovered. The beings in these worlds resemble our myths of angels, demons, gods, and monsters. And since the Revelation, they’ve integrated slowly into our society, working among us, becoming law-abiding or lawbreaking (take your pick) citizens. My heroine, Charlie Madigan, is a divorced mother of one. She works for the ITF (Integration Task Force) with an off-world partner, a siren named Hank. Her job puts her right in the middle of the off-world population where she makes sure that everyone obeys the law. But when a new off-world drug is released in Underground, her daughter is targeted, and her ex-husband makes a fateful bargain to win her back, there's nothing in heaven or earth (or hell for that matter) that Charlie won't do to set things right

How did you come up with the title for THE BETTER PART OF DARKNESS?
The title came before the initial idea. I was looking for a better title for a paranormal romance novel I’d written. I was just playing around putting words and phrases with ‘Darkness’ when I hit on the right combination of words. I knew it was special, so I saved it. This was also right around the time I was playing with ideas for a new story, one where I wanted to explore the what-if question: What if our myth/beliefs of heaven and hell were based in truth, in real places?

How did you come up with the characters? I'm curious because you don't see many divorced moms in Urban Fantasy as a main character.
I’m never sure how the characters come to me; they just seem to show up in the world already stewing in my head. I knew the next book I’d write would be urban fantasy, and I knew I wanted to go outside some boundaries with my heroine. From the very beginning, Charlie presented herself as a mom and a divorcee. I’d just always pictured her that way, someone with a complex past and a lot of realism living in this alternate world. The choice for me was whether to keep her a mom, since I wasn’t sure if readers would accept the whole mom/dangerous job thing. But then all I had to do was look at all these real-life women heroes. The cops, the federal agents, the women in the military, and I knew that if nothing else, it worked for Charlie and it worked for me.

What was the hardest part of writing THE BETTER PART OF DARKNESS?
It wasn’t a hard book to write. The hard part was finding the time to sit down and work on it. I was pregnant, like BIG and miserable, while writing this book, taking a full course load of classes at the local college (yes, I am probably the world record holder for how long it’s taking me to finish my degree), and we’d just moved into a new house… I started feeding chapters to my critique partner, and she kept requesting more. It was her enthusiasm that made me sit down, when I was exhausted, and complete this book. My being a published author is all her fault.

Are you happy with cover art for your book? Did you get any say so in the cover art?
Yes. I’m very happy with it! When my editor told me that Chris McGrath was doing the art work, I was *happy dancing* all over the place. I know every author’s experience is different as far as input, but my editor really wanted to make sure I was happy with the cover. I was able to share my thoughts--my likes and dislikes, which were actually taken into account. In the end, though, I knew that final decisions on things would not be mine. And I totally get that part of the process. It’s business. I’m just very lucky to have an editor who thinks of our relationship as a partnership. He really wants to know how I feel about things, and I am so grateful for that!

How many books do you have planned for the Charlie Madigan series?
In my initial deal with Pocket, I sold a sequel, which is coming out Aug, 31, 2010 called THE DARKEST EDGE OF DAWN. I’ve plotted through to the third book, and have that proposal out now. I’d love to see Charlie work through some of her issues, and explore some of the relationship things that are coming her way.

How does it feel to have your first book published? Has it lived up to your expectations so far?
It feels incredible. There are some days where I have these quiet moments – like, is this for real? Is this really happening to me? I got so comfortable in my role of aspiring writer; I mean, that was a role I took on almost fifteen years, so, now, stepping into this new role – it’s still a little unbelievable at times.

What do you like to do when you're not writing?
I’d like to sleep. But when I’m not writing, I have a million other things to do – taking care of the house, the animals, the kids… There’s hardly time when everything is done and I can just chill, but when there is, you’ll most likely find me taking a walk, coloring with my kids, or online playing Aion with my kickass female gladiator (named after a Sherrilyn Kenyon Dark Hunter character), who has wings, people! Beautiful, angelic white wings!

Congratulations on your new YA series, Gods & Monsters! The first book is titled DARKNESS BECOMES HER (I love the titles of your books), can you tell us about it?
DARKNESS BECOMES HER is my new YA novel, which releases Spring 2011 from Simon Pulse, with a second book a year later. I call the series, ‘GODS & MONSTERS’, but I don’t know yet if that will change. It’s dark, urban fantasy, set in a post apocalyptic-like New Orleans (forsaken and abandoned by the government and most of its inhabitants due to two massive hurricanes that destroyed the city a decade earlier). It's now a sanctuary for the supernatural, a place run by the Novem, nine of the oldest (and strangest) families in New Orleans.

My heroine, Ari, is a hardened teen, with some unique qualities. She’s searching for answers, clues to an obscure past that lead her to New 2 (what folks now call New Orleans). With the help of some misfit kids living in an abandoned Garden District mansion, Ari discovers a curse that has stood since the time of the gods, one that is beginning to stir inside of her and ignite the age old war between gods and monsters.

It has a dark, lush, gothic feel. The city is decaying, ebbing back into the swamps, so the atmosphere is very dark and creepy. And I'm blending some ancient mythology (the gods) and the vampire, witches, & shapeshifter mythos (the monsters) together, connecting them with an ancient curse that lives inside of my heroine.

What inspired you to write DARKNESS BECOMES HER in this setting?
My love of all things dark and creepy. And my love of New Orleans. It’s such an inspiring city with so much history and amazing architecture. But I also wanted to make the city different, to move it into the future by a decade or so, and, at the same time, make it resemble the days when the city was a frontier town and first being carved out of the swampland. Only now instead of rising out of the swamp, it’s sinking back in. And I love the idea of, for instance, the Garden District taking on an abandoned air, those great mansions being covered by Spanish moss and vines, and yet still standing and housing strange inhabitants.

How did you come up with the name 'Kelly Keaton' for your new YA series?
Keaton is a family name. My grandparents held that name, and my grandmother is credited with opening my mind to world of fairies and all things fantastical. She'd take me for walks in the woods when I was a child, holding one hand, while pointing out mushrooms and tree stumps with the other, telling me those were fairy castles and umbrellas. She had such an amazing, creative mind, and she was a big supporter of my writing dream. She passed away less than two months before I sold my first book. She would’ve been thrilled to tears to hear that news, so I’m just really proud to bear her name in this way – I know she’s getting a big kick out of it!

Kelly – thank you for stopping and answering a few of my questions!

Places you can find Kelly Gay: Web Site | Blog | Twitter

Giveaway Details:

For a chance to win a copy of The Better Part of Darkness by Kelly Gay:

• Leave a comment or a question for Kelly.
• For an extra entry, spread the word about this giveaway: Blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc. - leave a link in the comments.
• Leave your email with your comment ONLY IF it is NOT part of your profile.
• This giveaway is open to Everyone.
• Giveaway ends on Monday, November 23rd at 8PM CST.
• If the winner lives in the US the book will be come from Amazon.com, outside of the US it will come from The Book Depository.

Good Luck!!

I am excited to have Nancy Holder here today as my guest. Nancy’s latest book Possessions released this past September and Resurrections, the fifth book in her Wicked series, was released this past July. Today, Nancy’s here to talk about these books and her other writings.

Also, as an added bonus today, Nancy has generously offered to giveaway five of her books and a tin of Wicked mints to one lucky commenter. Details at the end of this post.

A big Welcome to Nancy Holder!

Tell us about your YA series Wicked, Possessions and your writings based in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Smallville TV series.
I had already actually written a detailed proposal and received a 4-book contract for WICKED before Debbie came on board. Debbie had been my student at the Maui Writers Conference and her talent and creativity shone in everything she wrote. I asked her to be my co-author on the series and we got to work. It was such a joy to collaborate with her. This was her first published work and what a ride she's had! The first four books came out six years ago, and we had left book four on a wild cliffhanger. Then our editor left Simon and Schuster and the series got "orphaned," as we say in publishing. Eventually the books were repackaged and reissued and they sold so well that S&S asked us to finally write that fifth book, where we could answer all the questions we'd left for readers to stew about...for six long years. We were ecstatic. Then we started hitting the New York Times bestseller list. We were even MORE ecstatic!

WICKED is a young adult dark fantasy series about witches and magick, revenge and retribution. POSSESSIONS is more purely horror--an isolated, haunted boarding school, ghosts, possessions--but like WICKED, there's a mystery that arcs across the entire series (I have sold four POSSESSIONS novels so far.) To get in the mood for POSSESSIONS, I watch a horror movie every day and listen to scary music soundtracks the whole time I'm writing. By the time the sun goes down, I'm a basket case and I have to sleep with the hall light on and I for sure can't look in the bathroom mirror!

For WICKED, it's usually epic music like LORD OF THE RINGS and movies like THE CRAFT or LADYHAWKE.

BUFFY (and I include ANGEL) was a dream come true. I had heard about the show and a writer friend introduced me to an editor who was bidding on the rights. I was so nervous that when I went to Dark Delicacies, the fantastic horror store in Burbank, California, I bought the soundtrack to the BUFFY movie.

That editor didn't get the rights, but I quickly found out who did. With various coauthors and by myself, I've written 31 BUFFY and ANGEL novels and nonfiction books, and a lot of novellas. I would write BUFFY tomorrow if the publishing program was revived. I loved working on THE WATCHER'S GUIDE(S) and interviewing the cast and crew. I loved going on set and watching production...and getting to go on location as well. I loved talking to the writers, of course, and Joss, of course. One of my favorite interviewees was Director of Photography Michael Gershman, who gave me wonderful parenting advice--read to my daughter and cut her lots of slack. Hands down, the kindest man on either set was Marc Blucas, who played Riley Finn, Buffy's boyfriend--a thankless job, arriving in continuity after Buffy's two intense loves, Angel and Spike.

SMALLVILLE was another wonderful gig. I used to watched SMALLVILLE with the sound turned off (which I do with all the shows I write tie-in material for) and just marvel at how beautiful everything is--the production design is colorful and luminous. The actors are ethereal, the sets, magical and bright. When my first SMALLVILLE book, HAUNTINGS, came out, (there's that love of ghosts again!), DC Comics sent me a birth announcement. I framed it.

DreamWorks Studios has acquired the rights to your Wicked series co-written with Debbie Viguié. Congratulations! How did you feel when heard this wonderful news?
DreamWorks. There's a dream come true! We had met our film agent, Michael Prevett of Gotham Group, at the San Diego Comic-con, shortly before Debbie and I left on our author tour to promote WICKED: RESURRECTION. We have a relationship with Michael through our literary agent, Howard Morhaim. Michael told us that the Benay brothers were working on a pitch and suddenly things felt more real. Then he started telling us where they were pitching. We said no a few times--which was nerve racking--and then, once we got to yes, we called each other up after the big conference call (Debbie lives in Hawaii and I live in California) and started laughing. When the news hit the trades, it felt as if I could trust our good news. It felt real then. It's still pretty new and it still amazes me.

Do have any actresses/actors in mind who would make good candidates for the starring roles in Wicked?
We have wish lists of actors and actresses we would love to see in any role in the movie. Mine has to include Adrien Brody, Viggo Mortensen, Zachary Quinto, Danielle Panabaker, Emily Browning, Zoe Saldana, Bryce Dallas Howard, Eva Green,Emily Blunt, Evan Rachel Wood, Keira Knightley, Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman. Debbie wants Molly C. Quinn as either Nicole or Amanda, and Jensen Ackles as Eli. I love, love, love Richard Dean Anderson. I usually watch between five and ten episodes of “Stargate SG-1” a week.

I read in your bio, that early on you were studying to be a ballet dancer, what made you decide to be writer instead? And what influenced you to write in the paranormal genres?
Even when I was a ballet kid, I was interested in the paranormal. I loved to read creepy comic books and watch scary movies. My mom sat with me and we watched the original FRANKENSTEIN together. Every once in a while she would offhandedly say, "I wonder where the camera is in this shot." She died two weeks before I turned ten so I had to have been very young when we watched it. I would never have let my daughter see something that scary at such an early age. I also liked magic kits and puppets. Theatrical, eerie stuff. I came wired that way, I think.

Ballet--I'm short and I have short legs for a dancer. I was really worried about ever getting very good roles if I stayed in dance. Then I banged my knee up on a radiator doing the tango at ballet school in Germany. It hurt so badly that I couldn't lift my leg to climb up into the streetcar to go home, and I walked about five miles. I decided that was a crazy way to make a living and quit school. I had always had encouragement to be a writer, and I was always writing little stories, but after ballet, I wanted a normal life and a normal job. But when I went to UC San Diego, I wound up taking a lot of independent studies writing classes with Dr. John Waterhouse. He encouraged me to send out my stories. They all came back rejected. After I graduated, I applied to graduate school, and he wrote me a letter of recommendation, saying that he thought I could become a professional freelance writer if I wanted to. That shocked me and made me rethink my decision to steer clear of the arts. I still have that letter.

What's your writing environment like? What inspires you while your writing?
I listen to music constantly while I write. As long as I have headphones/ear buds, I can write anywhere. I usually write in the downstairs bedroom of my house--it's like a bunker--or on a white-tiled table in my family room. But I've written in my car waiting to pick up my daughter at school; at the dog park--anywhere. I need the music to cue me in, though. And in the morning, I have to have my coffee. I go to bed at night savoring the anticipation of that first cup in the morning. So that inspires me! I also watch a lot of movies--horror movies and fantasies. Or sometimes, if I'm researching a place, I'll watch a movie set there strictly for the setting. And of course I read. I use my own emotions--imagining how I would feel in a given situation, whether it be afraid, happy, nervous, etc., and try to get that down on the page.

What's coming up for you in the book world?
I write a lot of stories about supernatural beings. Right now, Debbie and I are finishing the first draft of CRUSADE, a dark fantasy trilogy, which has the tone and flavor of WICKED, but is about a band of vampire hunters...after the vampires have revealed themselves and turned on us. Our hunters are based in Salamanca, Spain. I have a wonderful friend who lives in Madrid helping me with the Spanish. CRUSADE starts coming out next fall.

I'm still writing POSSESSIONS novels. I write a comic book called THE DOMINO LADY, about a noir character created in the 1930's. One of her weapons is her sex appeal. Men are mesmerized by her curves. I also love to write short fiction and have written, or will write, a number of stories about Sherlock Holmes; and some paranormal romance short stories, mostly about vampires, in books such as THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF VAMPIRE ROMANCE and its sequel.

What are you reading now? What do you read for your own reading pleasure? And what are your favorite genres/authors?
I am also on the faculty of the Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing Program, administered by the University of Southern Maine. It's an excellent program and our students are amazing. I spend a lot of my reading time reading their work. Much of it is professional calibre and I thoroughly enjoy it. I have a huge stack of TBR young adult novels and am really looking forward to plowing through them, hopefully at Christmas. I have so many friends who are writers that I hesitate to single anyone out as a favorite to read, but Stephen King is still my King. I love Edgar Allan Poe and Shirley Jackson. Huge talents. I spent an entire day of a whirlwind four-day sightseeing trip to Washington D.C. visiting Poe's grave in Baltimore.

If you were interviewing yourself, what question would you ask yourself? How would you answer that question?
If I were interviewing myself, I would ask myself if I will ever be satisfied with my work. There are moments--sometimes hours or even days--where I really feel like I'm in the zone. Writers usually call it "flow." And now and then I'll read something and be happy with it. But most of the time I'm not satisfied with what I've done. The answer is, that it doesn't matter if I'm satisfied. It matters that I tried my best.

Do you have anything you'd like to share with us?
I want to thank everyone who has ever read a book of mine, and everyone who's been kind to me along the way of my writing career. Writing can be a lonely, frustrating profession, but I'm not lonely or frustrated. I have wonderful friends and the world's best daughter, ever, who is supportive and proud of me. We've written two short stories together that have been published, and we've done book signings and appeared on panels at conferences together. And no one has patronized her or treated her like some goofy little kid. That delights me. Watching Debbie Viguie's career flourish delights me. It really means a lot to me when someone emails me or leaves a comments somewhere on the net that shows interest in what I do, whether it is as a writer or as a teacher. I'm very grateful for the career I have, and it wouldn't have happened without a lot of random acts of kindness.

Thank you Nancy for taking the time to answer a few of my questions.

Places you can find Nancy Holder: Web Site | Blog | Twitter

Giveaway:

For a chance to win the following five books by Nancy Holder and a tin of Wicked green apple mints:

Wicked 1: Witch & Curse	Wicked 2: Legacy & Spellbound	Wicked 3: Resurrection	Possessions	Pretty Little Devils

1. Leave a comment or question for Nancy.
2. For an extra entry, spread the word about this giveaway: Blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc. - leave a link in the comments.
3. Leave your email with your comment ONLY IF it is NOT part of your profile.
4. This giveaway is open to Everyone.
5. Giveaway ends on Friday, November 27th at 8PM CST.
6. The giveaway prizes will be mailed to the winner by Nancy.

Good Luck!