An Interview with Susan Spann

Today an interview with Susan Spann, author of the Shinobi Mystery series. A series that is high on my wishlist.

Today is also the last day of the Between Dreams & Reality - Pearls Cast Before A McPig Event on my blog. There will be a last post tomorrow on Between Dreams & Reality. So don't forget to leave some author love in the comments, because I'll be picking an event winner on October 13th.


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

Thank you for inviting me here today!

In addition to writing the Shinobi Mystery series, I’m a California publishing attorney – a transactional specialist, which means I don’t sue people or spend much time in court. When I’m not writing, I work with authors, publishers, and businesspeople on contracts and other document and business-based legal issues.

But mostly, I love to write.

Could you tell a bit about your books?

The Shinobi Mysteries feature the ongoing adventures of ninja detective Hiro Hattori and his Portuguese Jesuit sidekick, Father Mateo. Together, they solve crimes in 16th century Kyoto.

The first book, Claws of the Cat, involves the murder of a samurai in a Kyoto teahouse. Book two, Blade of the Samurai, forces Hiro and Father Mateo to catch a killer stalking the shogun’s compound, and each additional book in the series will feature a different samurai-era setting.

How many books will there be in the Shinobi Mystery series?

As many as my publisher lets me write! At present, I have twelve books outlined and at least as many more in “rough idea” form. I love Hiro and Father Mateo, and hope to spend many years in their company.

Are there any other projects you’re working on at the moment?

Yep. But if I told you, I’d have to kill you. What I can say is that the new project is also series-based and that I expect fans of Hiro and Father Mateo will find it as exciting as I do. I’ll say more as soon as I can!

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

Not as entire people, but I have borrowed character traits. For example, Father Mateo’s housekeeper, Ana, has a distinctive habit of saying “HM” before speaking when she’s frustrated. I borrowed that trait from my father (who’s now deceased). There are others, too.
Distinctive personal traits are easy to carry over without forcing the character to “match” a real person. For me, it’s the best of both worlds.

If you could, would you change places with any of your characters?

Probably not. I’d love to live in Hiro’s world as I’ve written it, but my age and my gender would make life in 16th century Japan substantially harder for me than it is for Hiro.

Plus, I’m not a big fan of the whole “squat toilet” thing. I like my indoor plumbing.

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

Usually with my nose in a book or my arms shoulder-deep in my marine aquarium, feeding the seahorses. I’ve heard there’s a “world” outside the walls of my house, but I’m treating that as a dangerous, unconfirmed rumor.

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

I had dinner at a favorite Thai restaurant with my family and a few close friends. I ate cupcakes. I danced naked with a unicorn under a full moon.

Well, ok, one of those is a lie. I’ll leave you to figure out which.

What authors have been an influence to you?

How much space do we have? The entire list would take pages to relate, but I’ll give you a few of the highlights:

In terms of “inspiration from afar,” I love the works of Michael Crichton, Lee Child, James Rollins, and Laura Joh Rowland – I read their books and I aspire to write as well as they do.

Closer to home, I have author friends who inspire me to keep writing and who urge me to stay on the path when things get difficult. Heather Webb, whose debut novel BECOMING JOSEPHINE releases in January 2014, is one of those, as is my friend and critique partner Marci Jefferson (author of GIRL ON THE GOLDEN COIN, which also releases in early 2014). Kerry Schafer, who recently had an interview here for her debut fantasy novel, BETWEEN, is another. I’m fortunate to have a wonderful group of supportive author friends who encourage and inspire me.

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

Again, too numerous to mention! The highlights, however, would have to include James Rollins’s THE EYE OF GOD, Kerry Schafer’s BETWEEN (I’m eagerly anticipating her upcoming sequel, WAKEWORLD), and J.A. Kazimer’s FROGGY STYLE, which I just picked up at the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ Colorado Gold conference last weekend – FROGGY STYLE has been out for a while, but I wanted an autographed copy so I waited because I knew she’d be there to sign it for me!

Are there zombies or pigs in any of your books or will there be any in future books?

I’m afraid there weren’t many zombies in samurai-era Kyoto (death by beheading tends to limit the Zed population), but there will be pigs! In fact, I’m toying with the idea of a pet pig for one of my supporting characters later in the series. The biggest roadblock to that so far is the fact that most Japanese pigs eventually ended up the “honored guests” at family dinners, and I didn’t want my audience getting attached to someone I knew would become an entree. (Sorry, Sullivan!) If I can find a way to keep the pig alive, I’ll make it happen.

Thank you again for inviting me here for an interview – I’ve had a great time!

Thanks for dropping by.
And you are right. No pig is better than a pig who ends up as food.



About Claws of the Cat:

When a samurai is brutally murdered in a Kyoto teahouse, master ninja Hiro Hattori has just three days to find the killer before the dead man’s vengeful son kills both the beautiful geisha accused of the crime and Father Mateo, the Jesuit priest that Hiro has pledged his own life to protect. The investigation plunges Hiro and Father Mateo into the dangerous waters of Kyoto’s floating world, where they quickly learn that everyone from an elusive teahouse owner to the dead man’s dishonored brother has a motive to keep the samurai’s death a mystery.




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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.

TBR Orphans Challenge Update 9

August was a great month for my orphans but September turned out to be a very bad month for them. I didn't get to reading an orphan at all.


The reason was that there were just too many great new books I wanted to read, like The Outside by Laura Bickle.


And 100 Days in Deadland by Rachel Aukes which was so good that after having read the ebook I just had to get it in print so I can hug it and put it on my keeper shelves with my other favorite reads.

October looks like another bad month for my orphans. There are some really cool books coming my way.


And I have to do some homework for my trip to World Fantasy Con (yeah, homework sounds like a good excuse). I'm going to attend a Kaffeeklatsch (basically a talk with coffee and cookies as I understand it) with Holly Black and Sarah Rees Brennan. I have read books by Holly Black, but not by Sarah Rees Brennan, so I really should read Unspoken before going to WFC, don't you think? ;-)

An Interview with Merrie Destefano + Giveaway

Today I'm interviewing Merrie Destefano. She's the author of the dark fairytale Feast and the imaginative Young Adult novel Fathom among others.


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

Wow. Where to begin...I've loved reading fantasy and science fiction since I was very young, so writing in that genre feels natural to me. I also love plot twists and surprises and things that are a bit scary, so there's almost always a touch of that in my books. I like it best if there's a secret (or two!) at the core of the story that is slowly being revealed to the reader. At this point, I have two novels published by HarperVoyager: Afterlife and Feast. I also have several art books that I co-authored, published by Walter Foster: How to Draw Zombies, How to Draw Vampires and How to Draw Grimm’s Dark Tales. And I have a self-published YA novel, Fathom.

Have you ever been tempted to use people who’d been rude to you in real life as victims in your books?

Definitely! There was a girl who lived next door to me when I was young and who was a quite a manipulative little bully. I've obviously never forgotten her—or the times I challenged her, refusing to let her push me around. She crops up when I'm writing YA. Sometimes I'll use her last name or something similar, or I'll just use her personality.

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

I've unconsciously taken bits and pieces of people I know. For instance, the grandmother in Fathom is very much like my mother. Not exactly, but my mom was the inspiration. I love it when I hear readers say that they loved the grandma, because it reminds me what an interesting person my mother was.

Are there any other projects you’re working on or thinking about starting in the near future?

I have a whole list of books I'd love to write! Most of them have anywhere from ten to fifty pages already written. That's my test to see if a book deserves to be born—if I can put together a beginning that compels me to finish writing it, spending anywhere from 5 to 10 months immersed in the story. Right now, I'd just love to write a rendition of my favorite fairy tale, but I've also started a YA science fiction set in a nebulous near-future with echoes of the 1930s. And then I have an alien invasion story that I've started and those characters just sing off the page. So, I'm having a hard time deciding. I just finished writing a YA contemporary that took 5 months to complete and, right now, I'm taking a little breather from writing novels, doing some contract magazine editorial work instead.

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

Well, when it comes to writing, I like to write on my Chromebook in local coffee shops (Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf is my fave.) Or I might write a little on my iPad in the living room, while sitting on a comfy sofa. But edits are always done on my desktop. When not writing at all? I love watching movies and reading and decorating and having lunch with friends and walking my dogs.


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

Unfortunately, there really wasn't much time for celebrating. I was writing my second book, Feast, and doing freelance (writing and editing) work, plus all the promotional work that goes along with a book release. But when I got the initial contract, I did go to a Coldplay concert. They’re my favorite band and it was apt reward, since I listened to their music the entire time I was writing Afterlife.

What is the best thing about being a published author?

I guess being published makes you feel a bit more validated. The writing is basically the same, before or after you've been published. But once someone pays you money and gives you a contract and then you actually see your book in a local bookstore, at that point you start to feel like maybe you really are a writer. I was in a bizarre situation when I finally got my first book contract. At that point, I was already the editor of a nationally-published magazine, so I'd had lots of articles published and had seen my magazine on bookstore shelves. But my heart has always been in telling stories and writing fiction, so having that validated was wonderful.

You have self-published several books. What are your thoughts about traditional publishing versus self publishing? Would you recommend self publishing to other authors?

Tough question! I have done some self-publishing and it seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but I still prefer traditional publishing. I'm not one of those people with a large, impressive platform, so my self-publishing sales aren't very big. Would I recommend it to other people? Sure. I'd just recommend that you try to do it professionally and realize that it might not open any doors to traditional publishing.

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?

I'm continually influenced and inspired by other authors, especially those who seem to write books that cross genres. Books that have made a strong impression on me are: The Sky Is Everywhere, The Time Traveler's Wife, White Oleander, Origin, The Time Machine, Havah, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, The Replacement, Ashes, Ironskin, The Hallowed Ones, The Snow Child, The Road, Don't Breathe A Word, 17 & Gone, and Charm and Strange. I'm particularly attracted to books with a strong voice and unusual characters and a world I'm unfamiliar with. I long to get lost in a story that has all three of those elements.

Are there zombies or pigs in any of your books or will there be any in future books?

There are definitely zombies in my future! I was just asked to be the editor of the second issue of Zombies magazine. So, for the next month, I'll be eating, sleeping, and breathing zombies. In other words, I'll be having a blast!

Thanks so much for inviting me to be on your blog today! I really appreciate it. =)

Thank you for dropping by!
And I'll have to get hold of Zombie magazine, it sounds like my kind of magazine.



About Fathom:

Turning sixteen can be hell, especially if everyone in town thinks your mother killed herself and your sister. All Kira Callahan wants to do is swim, hang out with her best friend, Sean, and ignore the kids who torment her at school. That is, until one day when she gets invited to a party. For three minutes her life is wonderful—she even kisses Sean. Then somebody spikes her drink and some girls from out of town lure her into the ocean and hold her underwater.

Kira soon discovers that the group of wild teenagers who have come to visit Crescent Moon Bay are not as innocent as they seem. In fact, nothing is as it seems—not the mysterious deaths of her sister and mother, not her heritage, not even her best friend. And everything seems to hinge on the ancient Celtic legends that her mother used to tell her as a child.

Buy Fathom from Amazon here


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Giveaway:

Merrie kindly offered a digital copy of Fathom to one reader of my blog

The winner is Michelle W.

A winner will be picked at random on October 25th.
Open internationally to everyone who's legally allowed to enter this 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.

Angelfall - Book Review

Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days #1)
by Susan Ee

What is it about:
It's been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.

Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.

Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels' stronghold in San Francisco where she'll risk everything to rescue her sister and he'll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

What did I think of it:
Somehow this book managed to stay off my radar until recently people started talking about the upcoming sequel. (I blame Jess Haines for me picking up Angelfall btw ;-)

And let me say: Why didn't anyone tell me sooner how awesome this book is?

Because this is an amazingly cool read. Once I started on it I couldn't put it down and finished it in one afternoon. It's that addictive!

I will confess I hadn't expected that a book about angels could be this gritty. I thought it would be the umpteenth Dystopian read that doesn't really deliver, but instead it's a thrilling Post Apocalyptic tale filled with violence, darkness and danger.

I loved both Penryn and Raffe. The interaction between them was cool and believable (apart from one scene that made me want to slap Penryn for being a bit slow to grasp what was glaringly obvious). I kept rooting for them both to survive the perils they have to face.

The ending left me hungry for much, much more and I immediately preordered the next book so I can get my trotters on it as soon as it releases.

Why should you read it:
It's Post Apocalyptic Awesomness with angels.

Mary Sue vs. Debbie Harry - Guestpost by Jennifer Harlow

Today a guestpost by Jennifer Harlow.


About Jennifer Harlow:

Jennifer Harlow spent her restless childhood fighting with her three brothers and scaring the heck out of herself with horror movies and books. She grew up to earn a degree at the University of Virginia which she put to use as a radio DJ, crisis hotline volunteer, bookseller, lab assistant, wedding coordinator, and government investigator. Currently she calls Northern Virginia home but that restless itch is ever present. In her free time, she continues to scare the beejepers out of herself watching scary movies and opening her credit card bills. She is the author of the Amazon best-selling F.R.E.A.K.S. Squad, Midnight Magic Mystery series and Justice, the first in the superhero thriller trilogy. For the soundtrack to her books and other goodies visit her at www.jenniferharlowbooks.com


Mary Sue vs. Debbie Harry - Jennifer Harlow

Urban Dictionary Definition of a Mary Sue:

A female character in FanFic or original stories who is so perfect, so superior to all other characters, so powerful,she's annoying. Often based on the author.

(See Ana Steele, Bella Swan, TV Sookie Stackhouse)

Jennifer Harlow Definition of a Debbie Harry:

A female character who is flawed in many ways but does her best to overcome and accept them, is mouthy or prickly, strong or finds her strength, and who has to work for all she has, especially love.  

(See Anita Blake, Kinsey Milhone, Lizbeth Salander)


I consider myself a tough broad. I have a mouth on me, dirty a lot of the times, I've walked through dangerous cities at night alone, I've seen someone assaulted and got my friends out of the situation while keeping a calm head, and I've kicked not one but three dudes in the balls when they wanted to play rough and I didn't. I can shoot a gun, change a tire, I kill spiders and open jars for my brothers, and I take shit from no one. I'm not ugly but it takes over an hour for me to become pretty. The only things I'm exceptional at are dispensing advice, storytelling, and keeping fish alive (Beta Larry lived 2! years). I'm stubborn, solitary, I have no sex appeal or mojo, and I live with my parents.  In other words, I am not a Mary Sue. I am a human being, flawed yet still fabulous. And so should your main character be.

I came across the term "Mary Sue" when I read an article on "Fifty Shades of Grey" (yes, I read the book. Got it from the library. Wasn't great, wasn't terrible, read it in about three hours.) Like most blockbuster books, there was some derision about it, especially from authors. So much was said but for the purpose of this blog I'll just focus on the main character Ana. She was definitely a Mary Sue: perfect, every male falling over her, had the supernatural gift of having mind blowing orgasms every time. The woman would not exist in the real world. 

In this article (which I'm sorry I can't remember the name of, sorry) the author also mentioned that this type of character a "Mary Sue" was prevalent in Fan Fiction, which is how Fifty got its start. The term came into existence when Paula Smith wrote a short story about the type of female character prevalent in Star Trek FanFic. Mary Sue was only fifteen, a genius, the youngest lieutenant, with unprecedented skill in everything both mental and physical, and is beloved by all characters in this case especially Spock and Kirk. Mary Sue has no flaws, she struggles at nothing, and everyone fawns over her. In other words, she's boring. Unbelievable. Those are the worst words any writer can face.

If Mary Sue kept herself contained in the pages of FanFic I'd really have no problem with her. Full disclosure, I don't read or write FanFic. My roommate was obsessed with it, especially Wincest (EWWWW) and Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy parings. I understand the desire to write them. These are characters you love, and in writing the Fic you get to tinker with those characters however you see fit. You put yourself into this fantasy world. You're in control. But before Fifty no one was really making money on it. Now publishers are checking the sites for the next Fifty. Besides the copyright issues, my main concern is that more characters like Ana (a copy of Bella Swan) are going to be the norm. The only acceptable female lead will be demure, gorgeous, subservient, basically a feminist like me's worst nightmare. Ana let a man tie her up and spank her just to please him. Bella literally became a teenage bride, got knocked up, then DIED in childbirth. This is what has captured the minds of American women. It gives me chills.

When it came time to write my latest book, Justice, I made the conscious decision not to let my main character Joanna be anything close to a Mary Sue. In fact, what makes her special is that she is not special. She is a normal police officer who lives among superheroes and villains. She cusses like a sailor, drinks too much, makes tons of bad decisions, and nothing comes easy for her. Yet she’s also excellent at her job, owns up to her flaws, and loves with everything she has. When my agent was shopping the book around one of the reasons editors gave for not publishing it was Jo was too tough. She wasn’t “feminine” enough, whatever that meant. She was the kind of woman who if someone punches her in the face, instead of crying and shutting up, she spits blood right back in his. In other words, she's wasn’t perfect, and there's a reason for that. Perfection is boring. Who would you rather hang out with, spend money on? Little Miss Perfect Mary Sue or flawed, funny, tough Debbie Harry? Me, I'd rather spend an hour with an interesting shit than a whole day with a super nice person. You get more from Debbie than Mary Sue.

What about all of you? Do you prefer Mary Sue or Debbie Harry? Why? Am I being too hard on poor Mary Sue? Can you think of any other examples of either?



About Justice:

It’s hard being a regular police officer in Galilee Falls, a city with the highest concentration of superheroes and villains in the country. It’s even harder watching your best friend, the man you’re secretly in love with your whole life, planning to marry another woman. Detective Joanna Fallon has to contend with both. When the vilest supervillain in the city’s history, Alkaline, the former crime boss who can shoot acid from his wrists, escapes from the maximum security prison, the whole city is gripped by panic. Leading the pursuit is Captain Harry O’Hara, Joanna’s boss and secret lover, and the city’s champion superhero Justice, who caught the villain last time, much to Joanna’s chagrin. Before her father was murdered in a mugging twenty years earlier, Joanna worshiped the hero, but when he disappeared and failed to save her father, that adoration turned to contempt for all supers. After Alkaline attacks too close to home and targets Joanna as his next victim, tough-as-nail Joanna has to contend with her increasing fear while struggling to choose between her life-long crush and her new-found love.

At turns vulnerable and fierce, equally mordant and winsome, Joanna is an earnest yet emotionally damaged heroine, who despite the tough breaks of her childhood sees the good in people and vow to protect her beloved city at all costs. An ass-kicking petite firecracker with no superpowers of her own, she charges after supervillains unflinchingly, never losing her wit even when facing her toughest fight. With a coy blend of whimsy and vivid imagination, she delivers both humor and thrills in an action-packed and edgy blend of comic book cool, fantasy-noir, and bitter-sweet romance.

Buy Justice from Amazon here

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Giveaway:

Jennifer kindly offered a digital copy of Justice to one reader of my blog.

The winner is Texas Book Lover

A winner will be picked at random on October 23th.
Open internationally to everyone who's legally allowed to enter this giveaway.

------------------

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.

Perdition - Book Review

Perdition (Dred Chronicles #1)
by Ann Aguirre

What is it about:
The prison ship Perdition, a floating city where the Conglomerate’s most dangerous criminals are confined for life, orbits endlessly around a barren asteroid.

Life inside is even more bleak. Hailed as the Dread Queen, inmate Dresdemona “Dred” Devos controls one of Perdition’s six territories, bordered on both sides by would-be kings eager to challenge her claim. Keeping them at bay requires constant vigilance, as well as a steady influx of new recruits to replace the fallen. Survival is a constant battle, and death is the only escape.

Of the newest convicts, only one is worth Dred’s attention. The mercenary Jael, with his deadly gaze and attitude, may be the most dangerous criminal onboard. His combat skill could give her the edge she needs, if he doesn’t betray her first. Unfortunately, that’s what he does best. Winning Jael’s allegiance will be a challenge, but failure could be worse than death…

What did I think of it:
I loved the Sirantha Jax series, so when I heard Aguirre was going to write a spin off series I preordered Perdition as soon as it was available.

And Perdition doesn't disappoint.

I love the setting: a lawless prison ship. The perfect setting for a grim and gritty story.

And grim and gritty it is! Both setting and story ooze darkness. I loved the atmosphere and couldn't stop reading. I had to know more about this prison ship and its intriguing inmates.

Dred was a really cool character. She's tough and calculating, but even in the midst of all the darkness and brutality she hasn't lost her humanity. She tries to survive with the tools she has at hands. She gets help from two very intriguing men: Einar and Tam. I especially loved Tam. He's a complex character with his own motives to help Dred stay queen of her section of Perdition.

And then there is Jael of course. I didn't much care for Jael in the Jax series, but after a shaky start in Perdition he slowly began to grow on me, until finally I started to like him and cheer him on.

The story is really good as well. There's lots of brutal action, sneaky intrigue and a bit of romance as well. All in all a cool and gripping read.

I will certainly reread this book and I'm already looking forward to reading more about Dred and her men.

Why should you read it:
It's a cool and gritty SciFi read.

An Interview with Susannah Sandlin + Giveaway

We had Suzanne Johnson drop by with a cool piece of Flash Fiction not long ago. Today she drops by again, so we could interview her as Susannah Sandlin, the penname she uses for her awesome Paranormal Romances.


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

Sure! I write both urban fantasy with a touch of romance and paranormal romance with a dose of urban fantasy. I’ve been writing fiction for only the last five years; all of my career has been spent in university publishing (which I still do). I currently live in Alabama, but consider my longtime city of New Orleans to be my hometown.

The Penton Legacy series, beginning with Redemption last June, was my first foray into paranormal romance—it’s a series set in a world in which the blood of humans who’ve been vaccinated for a pandemic is suddenly turned poisonous to vampires. So vampires are starving and on the verge of civil war. The war comes to the small Alabama town of Penton, where a group of peaceful vampires has established a kind of closed-society utopia in this little ghost town. Each book follows one of the vampire leaders and his own journey to love and forgiveness...while all hell breaks loose around them! In June, a very loose spinoff (different characters) called Storm Force was released that featured a special ops team of Army Rangers and shapeshifters working cases of domestic terrorism.

You had Storm Force released as a serial and was still writing on it when the first part released. Did this influence your writing or did you have the whole story already planned?

Writing a serial novel was a wild, wild ride! I did keep up with what comments were being made about the book by readers as each of the nine “episodes” came out (basically four chapters per episode), and I might have changed directions if everyone had hated the hero, for example, or one of the other characters. But that didn’t happen. I had mapped out the story in outline form before I started writing and, as always, I did change things as I wrote. But the general flow of the story didn’t change from my original vision for it. Everything just got ramped up really fast because of the serial schedule!

What is the future for the Penton series and its spin-off?

I’m working on a fourth Penton book and hope my publisher is interested in putting it out; if not, I’ll release it on my own because there were some things that happened in Omega, the third Penton book, that I want to explore further—the character of Cage Reynolds, for example, who was a psychiatrist for the British Army before being turned vampire. And the Native American child vampire everyone calls Hannah—I want to tell her story. I have a proposal in for another book featuring the counter-terrorism team from Storm Force, focusing on the eagle shapeshifter named, inappropriately, Robin. So...we’ll wait and see how it all comes out.

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

Not really—the people I know aren’t neurotic enough to be one of my characters! Okay, there was one. The only character I’ve come close to basing on a real person was Krystal Harris, the heroine of Redemption. But my lips are sealed as to who it was based on!

Are there any other projects you’re working on under this penname or thinking about starting in the near future?

Besides working on Deliverance/Penton 4, I am in the “playing around and researching” phase with a story that I’m really excited about. It might go in any of several directions—paranormal, romantic suspense, or thriller, but it involves a washed-up salvage diver, a desperate woman, evil powermongers, and the Knights Templar. What’s not to like? LOL.


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

Unfortunately, it’s usually at my day job, which owns me from 7:30 each morning until about 6 each evening. So most of my writing is done nights and weekends.

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

My first book was an urban fantasy, Royal Street, written under the name Suzanne Johnson. It launched in New Orleans, where the series is set, so a bunch of friends (we call ourselves the “Sisterhood of the Traveling Snark”) came in from as far as New York City and we all converged on New Orleans for the launch at a local bookshop, then went with some of my good friends from NOLA to a dinner at Commander’s Palace. Beautiful memories!

When Redemption came out, my first book as Susannah Sandlin. I was working the day job and spent the evening frantically writing on the second Penton book!

What is the best thing about being a published author?

It’s still a new thing for me. It’s been only a year and a half since my first book came out—what a crazy year and a half! I think the best thing is being able to meet people in person or online who’ve actually read my books (which still surprises me) and want to talk about them. I also enjoy talking shop with other authors; there’s a great online community of authors who write similar genres or live in close proximity, and I’ve made great new friends, both in person and online.

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?

Probably the most influential author on me long-term is Stephen King. I grew up reading his books, and his mammoth novel The Stand is still my favorite book of all time. I actually finished reading an amazing book recently that wasn’t for research! It is called Wisp of a Thing, and was written by my friend Alex Bledsoe. The book is a follow-up to The Hum and the Shiver, which was hands-down my favorite read of 2012. It’s a paranormal fantasy set in the mountains of eastern Tennessee, and is just beautifully written and a mysterious story well-told.

Will there be zombies or pigs in any of your future books?

Ha! Hm.... I can’t see me writing zombies. Pigs, however...I hereby promise to put a pig in the fourth Penton book, at least in a cameo appearance! My favorite recent pig story....I was driving down the length of Florida last fall, zipping down I-75 between Ft. Myers and Naples...and there was a freaking wild pig trotting down the side of the highway! He was huge. I know I can work that into a story somewhere....

I'll be keeping an eye out for the pig :-)
Thanks for dropping by.

Thanks for having me here today!



About Storm Force:

As leader of the elite counter-terrorism team Omega Force, former army ranger Jack “Kell” Kellison is always focused on getting the job done. So when a Houston high-rise is bombed and the governor killed or missing, Kell’s mission is clear: infiltrate the group suspected of the bombing and neutralize the threat by any means necessary. But once Kell meets beautiful chief suspect Mori Chastaine, he realizes there’s more to this case than meets the eye. And more to Mori than any man—any human man—could imagine.

Mori Chastaine is running out of options. Suspected for a crime she didn’t commit, forced into a marriage she doesn’t want, she sees no escape—until Kell walks through her door. A lifetime hiding her true nature warns her Kell might not be who he seems. But he could be the only one able to help save more innocent humans from becoming pawns in an ancient paranormal power play. If Mori reveals her secret, will Kell join her fight? Or will she become his next target?

Buy Storm Force from Amazon
This week Storm Force is just $0.99 for US readers.

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Giveaway:

Susannah kindly offered a copy of any of her 4 books (winner's choice) + swag to one reader of my blog.

The winner is Kristia

A winner will be picked at random on October 21st.
Open internationally to everyone who's legally allowed to enter this 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.