Q&A with author Shalini Boland

A very warm welcome to my favourite indie author, Shalini!

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?
My favourite book ever is The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons. It’s a love story set in Russia during WW2 when the Germans blocked off all routes to Leningrad, trying to starve its inhabitants. Everything about the novel is beautiful and devastating and I lived every page.

Who is your favourite author and why?
Erm, see above. But I’m also in awe of Jean M. Auel and her magnificent Clan of the Cave Bear series.

Who, or what, inspires you?
I get inspired by all sorts of things: childhood memories, books, music, acts of kindness.
Writing-wise, I take my inspiration from authors like Anne Rice for her darkness, Audrey Niffeneger for her quirkiness and Suzanne Collins for her kick-ass-ness.

Where is your favourite place to write?
On the sofa in the lounge with my laptop, a cup of coffee and some chocolate – bliss.

What is your book about?
Hidden is the first book in the Marchwood Vampire Series. It’s part urban fantasy and part historical romance, and tells the stories of Madison Greene and Alexandre Chevalier who are both rebels in their own way. Fate takes each of them on a dark adventure and their lives eventually entwine, but this is only just the beginning.

What is your favourite film that was based on a book?
Sorry to be predictable but it’s probably the Twilight movies. I loved the novels and I think the films really captured their essence. I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed them so much if I hadn’t read the books though.

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

I’d like to cast complete unknowns into the leading roles. An eighteen-year-old version of Ben Barnes (Prince Caspian/Dorian Gray) would make a great Alexandre. And Madison would be played by someone raw and feisty, like a young Emily Lloyd (Wish You Were Here).
I can't think of any well-known actor or actress out there at the moment who fits the bill.

Tell us a random fact about yourself. I once sang with Basement Jaxx at The Brixton Academy.

Tell us something interesting about the area where you live.
Mary Shelley is buried here, along with Percy Shelley’s heart!
Percy Shelley drowned in 1822 while boating off Livorno; his body washed ashore and was cremated on the beach. His friend Edward Trelawny somehow grabbed the heart from the flames and presented it to his wife, Mary Shelley, who kept it with her.

Thanks so much for having me, Suzy! It’s been fun xx
Always a pleasure, Shalini! And I have to agree that a young Ben Barnes would be absolutely perfect!! For more details about Shalini and her books, visit http://shaliniboland.co.uk 

Author Spotlight: Joseph Garraty

Like it says in my official author bio, I’ve had a lot of jobs. I’ve done construction work, engineering, tech writing, and a mess of other stuff besides, but the one that warrants further discussion today is one of my favorite jobs: deadbeat rock musician. I say “deadbeat,” because I never paid the bills with it, at least not for long, but I have played in one rock band for another for over ten years now. One thing I can say with authority is this:
Rock musicians are some messed-up people.
You jam four or five of these highly-driven, super-creative types in a room together, stir in a generous helping of ego and two generous helpings of flakiness, and you have a recipe forinteresting times, as the fabled Chinese curse says.
Those interesting times, though often maddening beyond belief, are high-octane fuel for learning all about how people interact under some pretty stressful circumstances. When I turned my hand to writing my dark fantasy novel, Voice, I had a lot to draw on.

The setup for Voice is simple: Johnny’s a lousy singer for a mediocre rock band, and he wants to be famous more than anything. Case is a hotshot guitarist with an enormous chip on her shoulder who happens to need a band. When she joins up with Johnny’s band, Ragman, the group gets a jolt of new life, and it soon becomes obvious that Johnny doesn’t have the chops to keep up. But somebody’s been watching Johnny. Somebody who can give him a voice to move millions. . . if he’s willing to make a deal.

But when you deal with the devil, you never get quite what you bargained for.
Given the personalities involved, the band situation is complex enough (especially when Case starts to fall for the drummer, Johnny’s brother Danny), but when some of the more bizarre side effects of Johnny’s deal start to become apparent, the group dynamic is stress-tested to its limit and beyond.
That’s when you find out what the characters are really made of—and that’s what gets me excited about any book, not just one of mine.
Check out http://www.josephgarraty.com for news and updates on Joseph Garraty, or buy a copy of Voice at these websites:
Amazon
Smashwords

Nearly there!

So, I've just received the first ten pages of my book back from one of my editors. Good news, not only is she really enjoying it, she also loves my writing style! Phew.
I say one of my 'editors' as Raven is currently being read by four different people. Granted, they are four good friends, but three of them just happen to be in the publishing industry. I'm a lucky gal to be able to count on their expertise in my time of need. Not only are they pals, but they're honest pals and I know if they think it's not good, they will tell me it's not good - at the same time they'll suggest ways in which I can improve things.
I am incredibly grateful to be surrounded by such great professionals and I can't wait to receive the rest of the comments.
In the meantime, I'm working on the sequel to Raven, December Moon. It's great fun to create and I can't wait to get them both up on amazon!

Fabulous YA blogs

I have just spent a few hours perusing the blogosphere. I am amazed at the sheer number of fantastic blogs there are out there... and I was only looking at ones related to books and authors.
I am truly envious of those blogs that are stunning creations - pieces of art, even. But it's the content that is so cool in these instances. The majority of these fabulous bloggers must spend hours and hours reading all the latest books out there and then they tell the world what they thought.
Admittedly, the majority of the ones that interested me today were mostly related to the YA genre... and you could tell by the styles of their blogs. Some were really cute and girly and others were dark and brooding (Edward Cullen sprang to mind).
All made me want to grab a book and curl up on the sofa... something, I am ashamed to admit, I haven't been in the mood for, for at least a few weeks. Now, along with the change in the weather, I feel a change in my disposition. I am beginning to feel like I need to get back to my reading (and my writing, but that's for another post...!) and get into a great YA book.
But I can't do that until I've finished reading two that I had already started. I'd feel incredibly guilty otherwise. One is a chick lit comedy by Wendy Holden called School for Husbands and the other, is a romance novel that I recently won online by Maria Savva (you can find Maria on twitter @maria_savva).
Right... with that, I'm off to put my feet up! I shall let you know (hopefully soon) what I thought of them both. And then I can really get stuck into a great YA book!
PS. Please check out all the blogs that I am following (to the left), as they were all so excellent, I just had to follow them all!

Hot summer nights

I slept on the terrace a couple of weeks ago. It was such a beautiful evening that my husband and I just couldn’t resist lying beneath the stars as we dozed off into the land of dreams... that, and the fact that our bedroom had been unbearably hot.
As we lay there, counting the shooting stars above us, my husband had just closed his eyes when I saw the most magnificent one. It was the biggest, brightest shooting star I had ever seen and he had missed it. I was convinced it must have been some kind of comet... he was convinced it was probably something man made. We agreed to disagree.
Anyway, again we drifted off to sleep, only to be awoken a few hours later feeling a trifle chilly. I nipped inside and lugged our huge duvet cover outside and we snuggled up and dropped off again. Another couple of hours went by and I was woken by the feeling of something crawling on me... everywhere. I screeched and leapt up, rudely awaking my other half in the process. We didn’t even stop to see what it was. We just shook ourselves silly and shot inside to the comfort of our bed – fan on high to try to keep us cool.
The next morning as I gingerly stepped onto the terrace, I noticed hundreds of giant flying ants all over the duvet. I shuddered. I could have been smothered by those things. I could have been smothered to death (an image of my lifeless body creeps into my mind... death by giant ants...urgh). Ok... so maybe I am a bit of a drama queen sometimes.
That was the first time we had slept under the stars on our terrace. It would most definitely be the last.
Since that episode, we have, finally, had air conditioning fitted into our bedroom! After nearly eleven years of living in a hot apartment by the sea and three years of living in a warm villa in the country, we can finally sleep in a cool room in the summer. What utter bliss. For years we have, like many other expats here, have settled for the humble fan. A fantastic invention, of course, but it has nothing on the air conditioning unit. My skin is starting to feel dry and, with the lack of fresh air throughout the night, our oxygen levels are clearly lower than usual, but we have a cool bedroom! At the moment, nothing else matters! It could be sucking the life out of me, for all I care. It’s a cool bedroom!
Contrary to popular belief, it can get incredibly cold out here during the winter months. It’s not cold enough for snow but we often find a frost covering the ground first thing in the morning, particularly in January and February. Even though it is this chilly, my husband still insists on sleeping with a wide open window. “We need the fresh air”, he says. Perhaps now I have a good bargaining tool, “you didn’t say that when we had the air conditioning on in the summer”. What can he say to that? Not a lot really.