YA author Interview: AJM Mousseau

I'm delighted to have the lovely AJM Mousseau with me today... especially as this is her very first interview! YAY!

Welcome, AJM! Can you tell us a little about your latest book?

I would love to! Scars of the Bifrost is an awesome mix of sci-fi/fantasy, mythological realism, survival adventure, and dystopian urban fantasy. The main character Freya Catten is seventeen years old and is about to do the very thing her mother warned her never to do.

What inspired you to write it?
I had this vivid movie-like dream of a girl running from her foster parents who were fighting about turning her in to the authorities. The entire U.S. was under attack by an alien force that no one could catch or identify. The U.S. military had roadblocks and checkpoints up and were searching for Takers. The heroine in the dream ran to a bookstore where her friend worked for a safe ride out of the area before she could be captured – she knew she was special but didn’t know why. She got into the van and the Takers rappelled from the sky around the building shooting and setting off explosions. The van sped away and I woke up thinking where did that come from? Cool. And I wrote it all down. A little less than a year later I started building Scars of the Bifrost and as readers know, the dream became the base of the beginning scene.

Is it part of a series?
Yes, Scars of the Bifrost is Book 1 in the Scars Saga. The next two titles in the trilogy are Unlocking Brisingamen - Book 2 and Decoding the Edda - Book 3. Unlocking Brisingamen is in the works now and I hope to have it out by Jan 2014.

If your latest book was made into a movie, who would you like to play the main characters?
Ooo, what a fun question! While I wrote the book, I could really see the characters and the scenes often played like a movie in my head. In all honesty, I think we’d have to do an open casting call to find the perfect Freya and Theron.

What made you want to become an author?
I have been writing, singing and acting forever. During 9th grade I started carrying a composition notebook in which I’d write poetry, short stories, and songs. When I shared them in my English class my teacher and friends loved them and thought I should publish them. Once I grew up and started a family, I began writing stories for my children and put my own indie songs on the radio. I love words and how we can use them to express thoughts and feelings to each other so that each person – reader or listener – can interpret their meaning in their own way. Words are magical.

Name one of your all-time favourite book covers?

This is such a tough question!!! If I could go for a book cover in every genre I might have a better chance of answering. My mood and what I’m into at the moment really governs that part of me. I’m going to go with The Girl who Loved Wild Horses By Paul Goble. It is an older Scholastic book the won the Caldecott Medal. I love his art work in everything he writes.

Name one book that made you think 'wow'? Why did it have such an effect on you?

Ella Enchanted. I read it during a Children’s Literature course through my university. It was when I was reading it that it literally helped me fight against all those little nagging negative thoughts that said “You can’t write.” It strengthened me to feel rebellious and soon I was penning fan fiction, then my first novel.

Who, or what, inspires you?
Everything! Traveling, new places, stories and movies… often a really good line will spark something creative and inspire. I was watching a Burn Notice episode where one of the characters said, “Show and tell.” I ended up writing a love song off that one line! Music definitely inspires me. I love to put on my iPod, imagine and let the emotions take me for a ride. The same happens when I’m running with my iPod, images just flash through my brain.

Where is your favourite place to write?
1. Outside with my favorite colored ink pens and college-ruled notebook.
2. Walking or jogging with my hand held voice recorder. Once I get the scene that I’m creating, I’ll sit outside and transfer it into my notebook.

What is your favourite movie that was based on a book?

I love Lemony Snickett’s, A Series of Unfortunate Events! The movie made the book come alive! It was one of the first introductions I had to the Steampunk genre and loved the mix of dark theme, Victorian costumes and settings, kids as the heroes, and Jim Carrey’s whacked out, sinister villains!

Who is your favourite author (s) and why?
At the moment it is Suzanne Collins, author of Hunger Games. Collins was able to take a twist on war, child soldiers, big government that hurts and oppresses the people who have no choice but to live under them, and put it in a complex plot and story that touched so many. Kids killing kids; it is a horrible storyline but today in the modern world we live in it is happening all over the world. Some have lost their humanity. But for each person who cried at Rue’s murder or connected with the emotion of love, survival, fear and desperation the characters went through, our humanity is strengthened and maybe we can make a better future.

If you could have a dinner party with any authors from any time in history, who would you choose and why?
Cool question! Definitely Jane Austen! I love her manipulation and use of language. No one talks that way anymore and I just love getting lost in her novels and especially the BBC versions of her stories; my favorite is Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion;
Ayn Rand for her rebellious buck-the-system and think for yourself attitude;
Jules Verne so he could see all of the reality in our world that was once just glimpses in his own imagination;
And Susanne Collins and Veronica Roth, because Hunger Games was this poignant work of art in our real world that still reels from war in so many countries, and because I love Divergent! Even thinking about having the word tattooed somewhere on my body – probably my wrist. It’s a great word to describe being your own person!

Tell us a random fact about yourself.
I don’t live in a house. I live in a 36 foot RV, traveling around North America! My family and me have been living this way for three years and love it! We’ve been to over 20 national parks and almost every state. This coming summer we are heading to Montreal, Canada.

Fabulous interview, AJM!! I feel like we have a lot in common. We would most certainly be buddies if we lived in the same country! It was a real pleasure having you on my blog today. Good luck with Scars of the Bitfrost - it sounds AWESOME!!

To find out more about AJM and her books, visit:

http://www.ajmmousseau.com/

https://www.facebook.com/AJMMousseau

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7057947.A_J_M_Mousseau

Q&A with author Carol Piner

A very warm welcome to author Carol Piner...

Name one book that made you think 'wow'? Why did it have such an effect on you?
Like many, my heart was taken when I read "Pride and Prejudice". When younger, I saw it as "poor girl does good" material. As I continued to read it and grew in maturity, I found the power of the writing could not be denied. Many women will always be in love with Mr. Darcy and wish they had the strength of will of Lizzie.
I cannot overlook "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" by John Berendt as a book that battles for my favorite. I could not put it down until I finished it. About ten times.

Who is your favourite author and why? 

I have to choose Jane Austen. Although her books had a common theme, the personalities of the women about whom she wrote did not. I also enjoyed her way of making fun of the people she knew by writing them into her books. I do that, but not in her style.

Name one of your all-time favourite book covers? 

How do I choose any cover other than mine? I painted it. I had always had trouble painting white skin with all its variations. However, I put together a composition that I never saw coming of two friends of mine who had hair the color of my Mama. After getting the hair right, I put in the blue highlights. I painted the eyes brown and it was jarring and didn't work. I started working my way into blue, but was very unhappy with it. I finally decided to paint them the color of the highlights. Suddenly, it struck me that I was looking right into my Mama's eyes. She is a powerful character in my book, although the book is not about her. When I saw her eyes, I sat and cried and decided "Raven" would be the cover of the book I hadn't finished. She motivated me to finish the final chapters.

If you could have a dinner party with any authors from any time in history, who would you choose and why? 

I prefer authors of today because I have so many questions I would like to ask them. Brad Metzger, Tim Green, John Katzenbach, Elizabeth George, Nancy Taylor Rosenberg and John Lescroart. They are artists when it comes to writing legal mysteries, my favorite genre. I desperately wanted to become a lawyer because I love to debate and I am able to see both sides of an argument, or so I have been told.

Who, or what, inspires you? 

Without doubt, my Mama inspires me even today. She was a complete hell-cat in a time where women were more inclined to "put up" with their men's doings. This is the dedication I wrote to my Mama in my book, "This book is dedicated to my Mama, also known as the hell-cat. The woman who taught me to laugh and to feel free to "have at it" if I felt the need to. At the same time, she allowed me to be the crazy ass fool I am." Mama faced every adversity that could come her way. Five kids in six years. A husband that took his women to church with him. Kids who deserted her to go to him because he had money; we had roaches.
Yet, she was the funniest woman I ever knew and I have loved and looked up to her every day of my life. Personally, I think it started in the womb when she rammed Daddy's Cadillac at Buff Chapman's Texaco because he had a woman with him. I distinctly remember cheering her on, "Git him, Mama! Git him!" while still in the womb. I knew even then that she was "the home team" and I never forgot it. Me? I came out with a slightly squashed head.

Where is your favourite place to write? 

Oddly enough, my office. A place where I got chapter by chapter editing and support. I would write a chapter, then take it to a lady who worked for me named Pauly Brown. She and I were avid readers and I trusted her to not only wield a nasty pen when it came to my errors, but she had a lively, out loud laugh that I could hear from my office. Once I took a chapter to her, I would return to my office and sit...and wait. Before long I could hear her start to chuckle, then that wonderful out loud laugh she had. I would smile and start another chapter because I knew I was on track.

What is your favourite film that was based on a book? 

I cannot deny that "Pride and Prejudice" with Keira Knightley is my all time favorite movie. Not just because it is my favorite book, but because Ms. Knightley's acting brought Lizzie to life for me in a way none of the other movie versions had. I think Jane Austen would have been thrilled to see her book so well done. I believe she was perfect for the part. I have probably seen it 15 or more times. I have all the different versions I could find, but I return to Keira's time after time. There is a good chance I identified with her in ways. As a female in a fishing village, I was not too excited about having few choices in life. At the time my Daddy refused to put the girls through college. I was fortunate to get two scholarships or my whole life would have been different.

What is your your book about? 

My book is a, as one of my readers said, " a jaw-dropping, full-speed-ahead romp through the life of one girl that took all that life could throw at her." My character has been described to me as enormously funny in seriously heart-warming ways. My Mama was a story-teller and she taught me how to tell funny stories. The stories I chose in my book are those that rose to the top, so to speak. The kitchen, where all hell broke loose often, mostly by Mama, with me cheering her on. Daddy shooting the family ghost in the bathroom. The awesome hurricanes and my unconditional love for them (as long as no one got hurt by the skates). All the stories are true although I embellished the endings for humor and impact. Altogether, it is a hysterically funny book that is very uplifting, or so my readers say. I didn't realize that when I wrote it. By the way, don't expect dialogue.

If your book was made into a film, who would you like to play the main characters? 

Personally, I would love Meg Ryan or any blonde that can sneer real well. The sneer is important. Not a "boo-boopy-doop" kind of girl, though. I was never silly, ever. Funny as hell, yes; silly-no. You have to understand, I have spent my whole life making fun of other people. Mostly those that deserved it. One of my readers very kindly suggeted that I should play the part because no one else could. If I weren't 64 years old, I'd do it.

Tell us a random fact about yourself.
What is most interesting about me is my ability to bounce. Bounce back, bounce around...whatever, but bounce. I have gone up twice and come crashing down twice and it doesn't seem to bother me. That's that fighting adversity thing everybody likes so much in the book. Mama taught me to laugh. Two weeks after it has happened, I'll have you rolling on the floor. I have been called a stand-up comic and comedy writer. What I am is Mama's child.

Tell us something interesting about the area where you live. 

I live on a beach so far east of North Carolina that the highway actually falls right into the ocean. I loved growing up here and think I grew up in a special time and place. However, I also hated my home town because we were the talk of the town and when I returned here it was against my will. Now, twenty years later, you can't get me out of here. I will die here.

Sporty or couch potato? As a former tom-boy, I love all sports. Actually, I am a recluse. In spite of my funny and friendly ways, I have never been comfortable around people. I can gear myself up and do it, but it is harder for me than most people realize. I meet my commitments but it is unbearably difficult. If there is anything that lingers from my past, this is it.

Also, I love for people to contact me for a copy of my book. That way, I can sign it for them. I love doing that because I always loved getting signed books myself. They only have to email me at sunny@clis.com and it is very easy.
http://www.evidenceofinsanity.com
http://www.amazon.com/Evidence-Insanity-carol-piner/product-reviews/0557386934/ref=sr_1_1_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Q&A with author Belinda Kroll

A warm welcome to Belinda Kroll, author of the superb novel, Haunting Miss Trentwood.

Have you ever read a book that made you think 'wow'? If so, what book was it and why did it have such an effect on you?
Brandon Sanderson's Elantris had that effect on me, as well as his next book, Warbreaker. He has winding plots with multiple subplots that all tie together in a final, satisfying climax. I'm jealous of his ability to do so, and am always inspired after reading one of his books.

Who is your favourite author and why?
My comfort author is Jane Austen. Yes, I have a comfort author, the way some people have comfort ice cream. She once wrote that her pen wouldn't dwell on guilt and misery, and I'm happy she decided that. Sometimes you just need an escape. Other than Austen, I'm really starting to like Candace Camp. Her heroines are spunky, have great wit and the conversational battles with the heroes rarely fail to make me chuckle aloud. I also like how she always manages to throw in a little mystery, so the hero and heroine have the opportunity to get past their differences in order to solve a crime/problem/question.

Who, or what, inspires you?
Historical events; usually I read an article about something that happened in the past, and I begin to wonder what it must have felt like to be there. For instance, Haunting Miss Trentwood began with me wondering what it must have been like to celebrate Queen Victoria's golden jubilee. The last monarch to be on the throne for 50yrs had been Elizabeth I, so people went NUTS. By the final draft, the jubilee was a small part in the plot, so I think I might still like to revisit the event more fully.

Where is your favourite place to write?
In my journal, cozied up on a couch, preferably with a cup of tea and someone interesting to glance at from across the room when I get stuck.

What is your book about?
Haunting Miss Trentwood is a gothic Victorian romance about a Mary Trentwood, a young woman who is dealing with father knowing best... even after death. His ghost begins to haunt her the day of his funeral, and matters only become more complicated when a scarred lawyer appears on her front doorstep claiming he has traced a blackmailer to her house.

What is your favourite film that was based on a book?
I love the Romola Garai version of Jane Austen's Emma. When I read the book, Emma annoyed me so much, which was so different from the Gwyneth Paltrow version! But Romola plays the effervescent busybody so well that she made me love the flawed character.

If your book was made into a film, who would you like to play the main characters?

This is a tough question! I think I would want Anne Hathaway to play Mary. It would be interesting to see her play a frustrated, yet somewhat subdued, role. 

I want Christopher Plummer to play the ghost, Mr Trentwood. He would be perfect at delivering the snark and fatherly bossiness of the character. 

Hartwell, the lawyer, would be Jake Gyllenhaal with a facial scar (YES PLEASE). 

Mary's aunt, Mrs Durham, would be Melissa McCarthy.

Tell us a random fact about yourself.

I attend a weekly three hour dance where I lindy hop, charleston, balboa and swing dance. I love that I get to perform dances that were popular from the 1920s - 1940s.

Lindy hop, charleston, balboa and swing dancing sounds like an awful lot of fun, Belinda... I'd love to try something like that! 

After reading Haunting Miss Trentwood, I wholeheartedly have to agree on your chosen actors!