An Interview With Gini Koch + Giveaway

Today Gini Koch is once again our guest. We love her books about hot aliens and we love having her drop by at our blog.


Welcome back to Pearls Cast Before A McPig, Gini.
Could you tell a bit about yourself for those people who don’t know you yet?

Sure! I’m a fulltime writer, formerly a 25+ year career marketing professional, with some other odds and ends tossed in. (I started early. I swear.) I’m married to a wonderful guy, the hubs, and we have a wonderful daughter, the chicklet. I also have the Canine Death Squad which consists of Li’l Leader, Big Baby, and the Spotted Fiend; and the Killer Kitties, currently consisting of His Highness Lord Ebol and Squirrel. I’m the rare author who loves social media, public speaking, crowds, and chaos. And right after my family and pets, I love my fans.

Seven books into the series and the Katherine ‘Kitty’ Katt series is still going strong. How many more books can your fans expect?

Well, we just announced that DAW Books has contracted for Books 12 & 13, Alien in Chief and Camp Alien. So at least six more. :-D But I have story ideas past Book 13, so we’ll see. (Crossing the digits for at least 16, but not going to predict that far out.)

Have you ever used people you know as characters in your books?

I’m in a Kickstarter anthology, Clockwork Universe: Steampunk vs. Aliens, and for the first time I offered “tuckerizations”, meaning fans could “buy in” to be in the story. So, I have three people in this story (releasing in May 2014) therefore that I “know” in that sense.

Otherwise, I tend to use characteristics of people I know, but not a “whole person”, if you will. And most of my characters are completely made up. Because most of the time it’s easier. I do base some characters externally on actors or models, but no one in the first few books of the Alien series is based on anyone -- I can slot an actor or actress in to “play” the characters, but they’re all their own people to me.

Will there be more books in your Necropolis Enforcements Files?

Yes, and I apologize right now for how late the second book, Night Music, is. But I plan at least six more, and as soon as I get my other deadlines under manageable control, you’ll be seeing the rest of this series coming out on a more regular basis.

If you could meet any characters in your book, who would it be and why?

You know, that’s a funny question to me because I meet my characters all the time. I can’t get some of them to shut up and leave me alone. I hang with them 24/7, so I don’t need to actually “meet” them -- I created them, they live in my head and then on the page, but they are even more alive in my head.

I’ve literally wracked my brain and I can’t come up with anyone of them I would want to meet “in the flesh” because for me, meeting them in the flesh would make them no longer “mine”, I guess.

But if it could be anyone’s character, I want to meet Wolverine, Captain Malcolm Reynolds, and Richard Castle. Again and again and again.


Where can you be found when you’re not at your desk writing?

Um…there’s someplace to be other than at my desk writing? Who knew? Not the girl who’s behind on deadline. LOL

If it’s outside of my house, usually you can find me at a con or a writer’s conference, or going out with some of my writer pals for a Sanity Break Lunch. I’m lucky that there are so many great authors in Arizona, and the Phoenix area in particular, so I can hang with people who really UNDERSTAND why playing Bejeweled when you brain is fried is GOOD for your writing.

What did you do to celebrate the release of your first book?

The Spotted Fiend tossed her cookies all over the house and I spent 3 hours at the vet, and then we had to watch her to ensure she wasn’t going to do it all over again. Yeah, that’s how we “party” at the Casa, baby! The Canine Death Squad and the Killer Kitties know how to ensue that they have everyone’s main attention at all times. (And I so wish I was making that up, but I’m not.)

What is the best thing about being a published author?

Fans. Hands down, it’s fans. I honestly never expected to get a fan letter, and when I got yours (yes, Sullivan is my First Fan, with the lovely Brandy being my First U.S. Fan) I almost tossed it away because I had no idea what it was. I’m so glad I didn’t. Any time I’m feeling stressed, or wondering if it’s all worth it, or whatever, someone sends me a fan email, a tweet, something on Facebook, Pinterest, or Goodreads, and it’s all worth it again.

What authors have been an influence to you? And have you read any books lately that you want to share with us or have you been too busy with writing to read?

Any author I’ve ever read -- good, bad, or indifferent -- has affected and influenced me. But I think if I were to look for the clearest lines of influence it would be from Madeleine L’Engle, Terry Pratchett, Dave Barry, P.J. O’Rourke, Robert Benchley, Robert Silverberg, Clifford Simak, Charles Dickens, A. Conan Doyle, and O. Henry.

As for current authors, I can recommend many, but honestly right now, I’m too busy to read a lot. I do a column (that’s sort of regular, LOL) over at Slice of SciFi and It’s Comic Book Day! where I’ll recommend graphic novels, novels, movies, and such, so that’s a good place to see what I’m managing to read in my copious free time. But I can say that anything by Marsheila Rockwell, Seanan McGuire, Erin Kellison, Caris Roane, Erin Quinn, Diana Rowland, or Valerie King will be worth your while.

Author Bio

Gini Koch lives in Hell’s Orientation Area (aka Phoenix, AZ), works her butt off (sadly, not literally) by day, and writes by night with the rest of the beautiful people. She writes the fast, fresh and funny Alien/Katherine “Kitty” Katt series for DAW Books, the Necropolis Enforcement Files series, and the Martian Alliance Chronicles series for Musa Publishing. As G.J. Koch she writes the Alexander Outland series. She also writes under a variety of other pen names (including Anita Ensal, Jemma Chase, A.E. Stanton, and J.C. Koch), listens to all kinds of music 24/7, and is a proud comics geek-girl willing to discuss at any time why Wolverine is the best superhero ever (even if Deadpool does get all the best lines). She speaks frequently on what it takes to become a successful author and other aspects of writing and the publishing business. She is also the Lead Editor at Raphael’s Village, an online, nonpaying ’zine. Because she wasn’t busy enough, Gini’s added on featured guest columnist, reviewer, and webcaster for Slice of SciFi and It’s Comic Book Day. She can be reached through her website at www.ginikoch.com.


About Alien In The House:

Jeff and Kitty Katt-Martini have learned the ins and outs of Washington politics, not to mention how to prevail in intergalactic war and foil dangerous plots. But, in the aftermath of Operation Destruction, the Gower girls’ powers are burned out, the entire A-C population has been “outed” as the aliens living on Earth that they are, and, worst of all, ACE is nowhere to be found.

Then murder and mayhem are served up at an important dinner party at the American Centaurion Embassy, and when the dust settles Alpha Team and the Diplomatic Corps have more problems than just a dead Congressman.

Is there a single criminal mastermind—or multiple enemies—behind all the conspiracies that want Kitty dead and the A-Cs gone or co-opted to become the War Division?

The return of the best assassins in the business, the reappearance of two individuals long-presumed dead, Agent Malcolm Buchanan felled by something no one can identify or cure, and new technology that can block even the most powerful empath on Earth … all of this means the game’s officially afoot.

Then Vance Beaumont comes to Kitty with a wild theory that someone is systematically killing off the House of Representatives…

It’s up to Kitty and the rest of the gang to find out what’s really going on and why. But will they be able to stop the killer or killers before the rest of the U.S. House of Representatives become casualties? And will the replacement Representative for New Mexico’s 2nd District, who happens to be Jeff Martini, be the next to die?



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Giveaway:

Gini kindly offered a copy of one of the following Katherine "Kitty" Katt books: Alien Proliferation (#4), Alien Diplomacy (#5) or Alien vs. Alien (#6) (winner's choice) to one reader of my blog!

The winner is Karin S.

A winner will be picked at random on October 7th.
Open internationally to everyone who's legally allowed to enter this giveaway.

And be sure to run over to Between Dreams and Reality where there's a review of Alien Tango and another awesome giveaway!

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Don't forget to leave a comment:
I decided to have an event wide giveaway on my blog for commenters.

At the end of this event I'll pick one commenter on any author post of this event at random and that person will win a book of his/her choice as long as bookdepository ships to where you live, you're legally allowed to enter, and the book costs no more than 10$

And drop by Between Dreams and Reality as well for more great author posts.