Author Interview & Giveaway- Julie Kagawa (The Iron Daughter)

Today for the August Blogger Birthday Bash, I have the pleasure of introducing the author of THE IRON DAUGHTER, Julie Kagawa, who is stopping by for the event to do an interview!

The sequel in her Iron Fey books, THE IRON DAUGHTER, came out on August 1st!

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ABOUT JULIE KAGAWA
Julie Kagawa was born in Sacramento, California. But nothing exciting really happened to her there. So, at the age of nine she and her family moved to Hawaii, which she soon discovered was inhabited by large carnivorous insects, colonies of house geckos, and frequent hurricanes. She spent much of her time in the ocean, when she wasn’t getting chased out of it by reef sharks, jellyfish, and the odd eel.

When not swimming for her life, Julie immersed herself in books, often to the chagrin of her schoolteachers, who would find she hid novels behind her Math textbooks during class. Her love of reading led her to pen some very dark and gruesome stories, complete with colored illustrations, to shock her hapless teachers. The gory tales faded with time, but the passion for writing remained, long after she graduated and was supposed to get a real job.

To pay the rent, Julie worked in different bookstores over the years, but discovered the managers frowned upon her reading the books she was supposed to be shelving. So she turned to her other passion: training animals. She worked as a professional dogtrainer for several years, dodging Chihuahua bites and overly enthusiastic Labradors, until her first book sold and she stopped training to write full-time.

Julie now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where the frequency of shark attacks are at an all time low. She lives with her husband, two obnoxious cats, one Australian Shepherd who is too smart for his own good, and the latest addition, a hyper-active Papillon puppy.


Julie Kagawa is the author of The Iron Fey series which include THE IRON KING (2010), WINTER'S PASSAGE (Novella), THE IRON DAUGHTER (2010), and THE IRON QUEEN (2o11).

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Visit Julie Kagawa on her website(s):

-Website
-Twitter
-Blog
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*INTERVIEW*

Q) What is your favorite fictional hero of all time?

A) So many great ones to choose from! I'd have to say ONE of my favorite heroes is Morgan Leah from The Druid of Shannara. He was my first literary crush. (Of course, Valek from Poison Study could give him a run for his money. )


Q) What historical person do you most identify with?

A) Oh, I'm so bad with history. Ummmm, I played Mary Queen of Scots in a high school play once and pulled it off really well. Does that count? (And if it does, what does that say about me?)

Q) Are you doing anything special this month?

A) Nothing planned at the moment, but I hope to do a signing in Louisville sometime in September.

Q) Do you have a favorite Birthday memory?
A) Horseback riding with my best friend in Hawaii.

Q) If you were to bake a cake what kind of cake would it be?
A) Mountain Dew cake!

Q) If you could chose one of your characters to come to life and celebrate with-who would be at the top of your list?
A) Oh, for a celebration it would definitely be Puck. I'd choose Ash, but he'd either stand in a corner and brood or try to kill me. xD


Q) What are some of your favorite books you've read this summer?
A) Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, Linger, Book of a Thousand Days, Other.


Q) What is your favorite saying or motto?
A) If you want something bad enough, you'll get it. If you didn't get it, you didn't want it bad enough.


Q) What is the one thing you wish people would ask but never do?
A) Can I just give you this extra million dollars I have lying around. ;-)

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BOTH AVAILABLE NOW!

Get THE IRON DAUGHTER now in stores at:

Amazon * Barnes and Noble * Book Depository

LOOK FOR THE IRON QUEEN, OUT FEBRUARY, 2011!

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*GIVEAWAY*

Thanks to the amazing Julie Kagawa, I have some doodled bookplates for you to win!

LOOK! It's Grimalkin!

*GIVEAWAY RULES*

-There will be two winners.
-First winner will get first choice.
-Contest ends September 2 @ 12:00 a.m. EST (So at midnight on the 1st!)
-Fill out THIS FORM to enter.

Extra Entries:
+1 being a follower
+1 comment on this post telling me who your favorite
character in THE IRON FEY series is.

Louder Than Words Books Giveaway!

LOUDER THAN WORDS BOOKS GIVEAWAY

"What do you get when you give talented teen girl writers a chance to share their life story with the world? The first-ever series of teen-authored memoirs . . . Louder Than Words.

Inside each Louder Than Words book, authors share their powerful stories through unique prose, journal entries, and poetry."

Thanks to TLC Book Tours, you too can have a chance of reading these amazing memoris.

I am happy to host a giveaway for an entire set of these three books plus an extra copy of RAE.

So you get 4 times the chance to win!

There will be one winner for the whole 3 book set, one winner for RAE, one winners for HANNAH, one winner for ALEXIS.

*Contest Rules*

-Open to US/Canada only (no P.O boxes)

-There will be four winners

-No extra entries except one for being a follower

-Ends September 5th, 2010 - 11:59 p.m EST

-Fill out the form below or go HERE

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ABOUT THE BOOKS

There’s Alexis, who shares her harrowing story of being solicited in an online
chat room by an older man who drew her into an emotionally dependent and
cybersexual relationship.
*
Then there’s Rae, who gives a brilliantly
penned firsthand account of what it’s like to be a teen suffering from severe
anxiety disorder.
*
And then there’s Hannah, whose pill-popping,
depression, and suicidal tendencies resulted in a tumultuous high school
existence and a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder.

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Author Interview & Giveaway - Rebecca Maizel

Author Interview & Giveaway - Rebecca Maizel (Infinite Days)

Today, I am happy to have my very first interview on my blog with the amazing author, Rebecca Maizel!
Thank you so much Rebecca for joining us!

Rebecca Maizel is the debut author of Infinite Days, the first book in the new young adult series, Vampire Queen.
Having graduated from Boston University and the Rhode Island College master’s program, Rebecca currently teaches community college in Rhode Island and is studying to receive her MFA from Vermont College.
Her debut book is scheduled to be released on August 3, 2010.

Check Rebecca out on her websites! Blog - Twitter - Facebook

OUAR: If you had to describe Infinite Days in one word, what would it be and why?
RM: That’s a really hard question. I’ll pick a bunch of words: exciting, unexpected, sexy, scary, supernatural…

OUAR: In Infinite Days, vampires are portrayed completely different than the sparkling vampire in Twilight, how did you come up with the idea for the book?

RM: I connected to my main character, Lenah’s voice. It was so strong; and sinister and tragic. I wanted to tap into that sorrow and darkness. I wanted to bring this person, whoever she was back out to light. It turned out that she was a vampire and thematically, it worked. Every person out there has done something they aren’t proud of. And whatever that thing is, they have to live with it - forever. That’s Lenah but times about a million! I just started writing one day and there she was with a motive, a purpose, and some really scary enemies.

OUAR: How long did it take you to write Infinite Days?

RM: 8 months not including revisions. Coffee, coffee, coffee!

OUAR: What is your writing process like?

RM: A lot of whining. A lot of handwriting. I tend to fill up notebooks with handwritten musings, and then I try to piece them together in a word document. I always try to sludge through one full draft on the computer. Then, I print out the word document and write allllll over it, edit the living hell out of it. Then I go back to the word document, implement my edits and start again…and again…and again…

I also improv my characters. Seriously! I try to do this when no one is home but I improvise scenes as a character. That way, I am acting the scene through that character’s eyes and my behavior, my reaction, my word choice is inevitably indicative of that character. Anyone with an acting background might want to try this out.

OUAR: Do you ever get writer's block, if so what do you do to help it?

RM: I try to listen to music, which is similar in tone to what I am writing. I go for long walks, I put the project down for a few days. Sometimes what helps is writing a letter from one character to another character within the story, writing from their point of view. For instance, in Infinite Days, I might write a letter to Lenah from Justin or vice versa. I usually do this with a character or situation I am having trouble pushing through.


OUAR: Besides from Infinite Day's sequel, are there any other projects you are working on?

RM: Yes! I am working on a realistic novel set in present day. But I must remain mum!

OUAR: What got you started writing?

RM: I’ve been writing since I was a little girl. When I was a kid most people were playing with Barbies, I was using my sister’s video camera to make movies starring my Barbies. I guess I was thinking in a narrative format even when I was really little! Also, I loved dance. I was in recitals and danced competitively until I was an older teenager. There was a connection for me between a choreographed dance and a choreographed scene. I haven’t gotten to the bottom of this yet - but I will!

OUAR: Are you currently reading anything?

RM: I am reading SUCH good stuff right now. Sophie Jordan’s Firefly knocked my socks off. Seriously, if you can get your hands on an ARC you are lucky. Erin Bow’s Plain Kate was wonderful and literary and she made me hate my own writing. She’s SO good. I just finished Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, which made me cry for about an hour. I feel so lucky to be on the shelves with these incredible women.

OUAR: What would you say is your all time favorite book?

RM: Hmmm. For Young Adult I absolutely loved Looking For Alaska by John Green. He’s my superhero of YA lit. I heard he was going to be at bookstore one afternoon in DC when I was there shopping I saw a poster with his name: John Green signing tonight! I literally stopped in my tracks and was like, “JOHN GREEEN IS GOING TO BE AT POLITICS AND PROSE?” I did this really really loudly.

But my favorite of all time? Amy Hempel’s Collection of Short Fiction. She is hands down the most brilliant writer in history. Please run SERIOUSLY RUN and find “The Most Girl Part of You” or “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried.” She’s a master.

OUAR: Do you have anything special planned fpr Infinite Days' release date?

RM: I am having a book launch party on Friday the 13th – I thought Lenah would appreciate that! I am also singing books on Cape Cod at the Yellow Umbrella Book shop August 7th. If you are going to be in Chatham, stop by!

UOAR: Thank you so much Rebecca for stopping by and doing an interview! Look out for Rebecca's book, Infinite Days, which comes out on August 3, 2010 (My birthday!)

Infinite Days

Look for it on August 3, 2010!

When Lenah Beaudonte, a 500-year-old vampire queen, wakes up a human teenager at an ultra-cliquey prep school, she must choose between embracing the humanity she’s always craved and saving her new friends from her vicious coven. The first in a sizzling new YA series.
Lenah Beaudonte is, in many ways, your average teen: the new girl at Wickham Boarding School, she struggles to fit in enough to survive and stand out enough to catch the eye of the golden-boy lacrosse captain. But Lenah also just happens to be a recovering five-hundred-year-old vampire queen. After centuries of terrorizing Europe, Lenah is able to realize the dream all vampires have -- to be human again. After performing a dangerous ritual to restore her humanity, Lenah entered a century-long hibernation, leaving behind the wicked coven she ruled over and the eternal love who has helped grant her deep-seated wish. Until, that is, Lenah draws her first natural breath in centuries at Wickham and rediscovers a human life that bears little resemblance to the one she had known. As if suddenly becoming a teenager weren’t stressful enough, each passing hour brings Lenah closer to the moment when her abandoned coven will open the crypt where she should be sleeping and find her gone. As her borrowed days slip by, Lenah resolves to live her newfound life as fully as she can. But, to do so, she must answer ominous questions: Can an ex-vampire survive in an alien time and place? What can Lenah do to protect her new friends from the bloodthirsty menace about to descend upon them? And how is she ever going to pass her biology midterm?

Infinite Days Trailer!

Giveaway!
Rebecca has kindly donated some swag from her debut novel, Infinite Days, for you guys to win!
Just fill out the form below.
Ends July 27th and will be mailed in time for Inifinite Days' release date!
FILL OUT FORM HERE *I will post pictures of the swag when I get it but I wanted everyone to have a head-start with the contest*
There will be one (1) or two (2) winners, depending on how much swag there is!