Monday Muse - Sick Puppies: There's No Going Back

Anthem!

Feature Friday: Sarah McCarry

Sarah McCarry was born in Seattle and lives in New York. She is the editor and publisher of Guillotine, a chapbook series dedicated to revolutionary nonfiction. All Our Pretty Songs is her first book. Find her online at www.therejectionist.com

Interview:

A.L.:
What piece of advice would you give to a budding author?

Sarah:
Read all the time and write all the time and go out into the world and run around in it as much as you can. And I think one of the most useful things you can learn as a writer is the difference between criticism that comes from someone who understands the kind of book you are trying to write and criticism that comes from someone who wants you to write the kind of book that suits them, which are very different things. The first kind of criticism is useful to you as a writer and the second is not.

A.L.:
What's your favorite book and why?

Sarah: 
Oh dear lord, that is an IMPOSSIBLE question. Impossible. I love a lot of books, very much, for very different reasons. I think in terms of books I love that probably went into this book, Francesca Lia Block and Elizabeth Hand are both very obvious influences, and I also loved Emma Donoghue's book of fairy tales retold, KISSING THE WITCH, which was a big influence on me as a young writer. And definitely Blake Nelson's 1994 book GIRL and Bett Williams's GIRL WALKING BACKWARDS, and all of Kelly Link's short stories. I didn't read Ovid until I was in my twenties, but I teethed on the myths that Ovid pillaged from (including the mythology of Orpheus, and of Persephone, which is the starting point for the second book in the trilogy).

A.L.:
Where did you get the idea for All Our Pretty Songs?

Sarah: 
Orpheus and Eurydice is about the goth-est myth ever and is a really perfect framework for a story about teenagers and rock and roll. But I always knew I wanted to twist the ending; stories in which the boy is the hero (even if he is a failure as a hero, as Orpheus is in that particular myth) are not that interesting to me. And I knew that I wanted to write about the Northwest, and about the nineties, so all of that knitted itself together very well.

A.L.:
Did you hit any snags while writing All Our Pretty Songs?  What were they and how did you fix them?

Sarah: 
Honestly, my biggest struggle when I am writing tends to be dealing with my own self. I am a terrible procrastinator, I go to great lengths to make sure I am too busy to put time into my own work, I spend a lot of time and energy pursuing very unproductive trains of thought, etc. I wouldn't say that problem is "fixed," but a lot of things help--taking good care of myself, setting really clear boundaries with my freelance work, and the oft-cited Butt In Chair approach, which I have found to be pretty successful.

A.L.:
Which one of the characters in All Our Pretty Songs is your favorite and why?

Sarah: 
Raoul! I love Raoul so much--I know it is a terrible cliché for writers to say their characters take on a life of their own, but there were times I honestly forgot Raoul was not a real person. He remains very dear to me. He is the voice of compassion and reason in the novel, but he is also pretty cheeky. I like to think he is an excellent balance of kindness and spark.

A.L.:
Can you tell us a little bit about your journey as an author?

Sarah: 
Messy and long. I've written my whole life, but it wasn't until I moved to New York five years ago that I was brave enough to acknowledge I wanted to do it as a career. And at this point in my life, there's not much else I can do--I didn't really have any options other than making it work. Thankfully it seems to be (knock on wood), but it was an arduous and difficult path to get here, for sure.

A.L.:
What are you working on now?  Sequel?  Something new?

Sarah: 
I am at this very moment in a tiny cabin in a tiny town on the very northwestern edge of the country, spending a lot of time on the beach and writing the third book in the trilogy, which is about sailing and the stars and figuring out whether what you came from has anything to do with what you are. Also: Medea.

A.L.:
What made you write a novel that set best friends against each other?  Are you speaking from experience?

Sarah: 
To me, they're not so much set against each other as coming to the painful realization that what they've meant to each other in the past might not be enough to keep them together in the future. I think one of the hardest lessons you can learn as a human being is that love is not always enough to keep two people on the same path, which is I think a pretty universal experience.

A.L.:
Where is the best place to get dumplings in Brooklyn?

Sarah: 
The beef momo at Cafe Tibet in Ditmas are delicious, but really you have to go into Manhattan for soup dumplings at Joe's Shanghai.

A.L.:
How much trouble have you gotten into/how much insurrection have you formented?  Do you have a wrap sheet?  Or is that a secret?  J

Sarah:
Ha! A lot, but I should probably plead the fifth. Let's just say I've never actually gotten arrested.

The Giveaway:
Sarah is giving away a copy of ALL OUR PRETTY SONGS and it's international!

All Our Pretty Songs:  The first book in an exciting YA trilogy, this is the story of two best friends on the verge of a terrifying divide when they begin to encounter a cast of strange and mythical characters.

Set against the lush, magical backdrop of the Pacific Northwest, two inseparable best friends who have grown up like sisters—the charismatic, mercurial, and beautiful Aurora and the devoted, soulful, watchful narrator—find their bond challenged for the first time ever when a mysterious and gifted musician named Jack comes between them. Suddenly, each girl must decide what matters most: friendship, or love. What both girls don’t know is that the stakes are even higher than either of them could have imagined. They’re not the only ones who have noticed Jack’s gift; his music has awakened an ancient evil—and a world both above and below which may not be mythical at all. The real and the mystical; the romantic and the heartbreaking all begin to swirl together, carrying the two on journey that is both enthralling and terrifying.

And it’s up to the narrator to protect the people she loves—if she can.

Read Goodreads reviews. 
Buy on Amazon.
Buy on Barnes and Noble.

 How to Enter: 
Enter the giveaway using Rafflecopter. Hit the arrow buttons, follow the prompts, and hit the enter buttons when you're done. (You may have to log in using Facebook to do this). There will be one winner (selected by Rafflecopter). I will contact the winner via email. This contest is open to international entrants.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A.L.'s at AUTHORS AFTER DARK!

Hey everyone I'm at Authors After Dark this weekend!  If you're living in the Savannah, Georgia driving-loop.  Come check it out!  And don't forget the YA Day on Saturday.

If you're attending, stop by and say hi at these events I'll be a featured author at:

Thursday:
10:00 am: Alternate Timeline Steampunk
11:00 am: On Feathered Wings
1:00 pm: Cross Genre Paranormal
3:00 pm: YA Blogger meet and greet
4:00 pm: Faerie Tales Retold
10:00 pm: YA Pajama Party

Friday:
2:00 pm: Post Apocalyptic and You
3:00 pm: YA Chocolate Party
4:00 pm: Steampunk Tea

Saturday:
11:00 am: YA Dystopia
12:00 pm: YA signing
2:00 pm: Adult signing
3:00 pm: YA Reading: FOR YOUR HEART
4:00 pm: YA Shifters

(I'll also be at the Bookie Awards, the Vampire Ball, the Elementals Ball, and the lunches)
Hope to see you there!

Monday Muse: Volbeat -- Warrior's Call

Makes me wanna go storm a castle!

Feature Friday: Michelle Pickett

I've been an avid reader since a young child, writing soon followed. I began writing for personal enjoyment in college, where I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in accounting—why I chose a degree field that frowns on creativity remains a mystery—but I’m lucky enough to write full-time.

My debut young adult novel, “PODs,” was published by Spencer Hill Press June 4th, 2013. The second book in the PODs Series, “The Infected,” will release in November 2014.

 The first book in the Milayna Trilogy, “Milayna,” will release March 11, 2014. The second book, “Milayna’s Angel,” will release September 2014 and the final book, “The Innocent,” will release April 2015.

I was born and raised in Michigan.  I now reside in a small community outside Houston, Texas with my incredibly supportive husband, three amazing school-aged children, a 125-pound dog who thinks he’s a lap dog and a very snooty cat.

I write young adult Sci/Fi, urban fantasy, paranormal and dystopian romances (as long as I have a supply of Reese’s Peanut butter cups).

I LOVE to hear from readers. If you have a comment, question, suggestion or just want to say hi,     email me!

Website:    www.Michelle-Pickett.com
Email:        Michelle@Michelle-Pickett.com
Blog:        www.Michelle-Pickett.com/blog
Facebook:      www.Facebook.com/michellepickettauthor
Twitter:    http://www.twitter.com/michelle_kp
Goodreads:    http://goodreads.com/michelle-pickett
Linked In:    http://www.linkedin.com/in/michellepickett

Interview:

A.L.:
What piece of advice would you give to a budding author?

Michelle:
Read, write, read, write, and repeat. Reading is important. It’s like going to school. It’s a way to study different writing methods and genres. And you can’t be a writer without writing, so you should write something everyday. If I can’t find inspiration for the book I’m working on, I write in my journal. But I always write something everyday. Finally, don’t give up. My dad told me if it’s worth having, it’s worth working for. So, don’t give up. Work for your dream. Write and then write some more.

A.L.:
What's your favorite book and why?

Michelle:
My favorite book is “Where the Red Fern Grows” by Wilson Rawls. It’s the first book that really took me out of myself and put me in the book with the characters. I still remember the first time I read it—on my bed crying at the ending. I still read the book even now. And I still cry.

My favorite book as an adult is “Olivia and Jai” by Rebecca Ryman, which is somewhat odd because it is a historical romance set in India. It isn’t a genre I write or normally read. I don’t even remember why I decided to read the book, but I fell in love with the characters. It is another book that moved me. I also reread it often.

A.L.:
Where did you get the idea for PODS?

Michelle:
I’d love to tell you some great story about getting the idea from a dream or something similar, but I can’t. I’m not really sure where the idea came from. I think the seed was planted in my brain when my husband and I were talking about the “super viruses” doctors are warning us about and how antibiotics are ineffective on them. Around that time my mother contracted a very aggressive strain of MRSA and the doctors were having trouble finding a combination of medication to treat it. I’d also talked to my doctor about the over use of penicillin and antibacterial soaps and cleaners.

I think these conversations and events rolled around in my head and I started playing the “What If” game, which is how all my books start.  What if this happened? And then this? And then that? And so forth.

A.L.:
Did you hit any snags while writing PODS?  What were they and how did you fix them?

Michelle:
PODs was actually a very fun book to write. It came very easily. When my editor read it she had some things she wanted to change and I agreed with her ideas. I thought they made sense and made the book stronger, but they were a little harder to write. I think because they weren’t “my” ideas. To fix them I used my editor as a sounding board. I asked a lot of questions about how I should approach the changes (The hardest was the addition of a new character). She gave me a lot of ideas. I also used my husband and son. Usually I do a  lot of talking and they just listen and let me talk! LOL! But it helps me work through some of the bumps I come across. And, to be honest, my husband has come up with some really great ideas for me.

A.L.:
Which one of the characters in PODS is your favorite and why?

Michelle:
Well, it’s a given that Eva and David are two of my favorites so I’ll skip them. Roy is my favorite character. He is a secondary character and he doesn’t have many scenes in the book. I’m not sure what it is about Roy that makes me love him so much, but he just draws me to him. He’s around a lot more in the sequel to PODs, “The Infected,” which releases November 2014.

I also love Devlin. You can see his caring side in the way he treats his half sister. He comes off as gruff, but he has a lot more depth. And we’ll learn a lot more about him in the sequel.

A.L.:
Can you tell us a little bit about your journey as an author?

Michelle:
I actually have a really fairy tale story. I almost don’t like telling it because I don’t want people who are trying to get published to  think my story is the way it happens. (and I don’t want those talented writers who are still trying to find an agent or publisher to hate me! ha-ha)

When I wrote PODs, I queried a few agents and none were interested. I gave up after querying about twenty (that’s an insanely small number). I came across Spencer Hill Press by accident. They were accepting unagented submissions so I submitted. The next day I got a request for my full manuscript and three days later I had an offer. Spencer Hill was the first publisher I sent PODs to. That isn’t they way it normally happens. I was INCREDIBLY blessed. I’m still overwhelmed by how truly blessed I am.

A.L.:
What are you working on now?  Sequel?  Something new?

Michelle:
I have a few things in the works right now. I’m currently in editing the sequel (and last book in the series) to PODs called: “The Infected.” It will release in November 2014

I have a paranormal romance trilogy coming out called: “The Milayna Series” The first book: “Milayna” releases March 2014. The second book: “Milayna’s Angel” releases September 2014 and the final book: “The Innocent” releases April 2015.

I’m getting ready to submit a young adult urban fantasy. I’m just polishing up the edits. I’m working on a New Adult contemporary romance and another dystopian.

A.L.:
What makes PODS unique in comparison to other dystopian “monster” books?

Michelle:
I don’t think there’s anything that features a “POD” living habitat on the market today. Also, the monsters in the books aren’t really monsters, but people infected by the mutated virus. So I like to say they’re the new generation of zombies—living zombies.  Living because they don’t actually “die” like a true zombie does.

A.L.:
If you were stranded on a tropical island, what’s the one thing you would want to have with you?

Michelle:
Other than my family, a box of matches. I’m assuming I wouldn’t have electricity for my Kindle so that’s out. So I’ll take matches to build a fire. (boring answer, I know)

A.L.:
What’s your favorite cooking show?  Likewise, what’s your favorite hoodie?

Michelle:
Oh, that’s not a fair question! I can’t name just one! I love them, even though I hate to cook. I like Chopped, but I love Hell’s Kitchen. My dad passed away in January—his is by far my favorite hoodie. :)

Thank you so much for hosting me! I had fun answering your questions. I love hearing from readers and other authors, so please drop me a note and say “Hi!”

The Giveaway:
Michelle has offered a copy of PODS as well as a MILAYNA notebook!

PODS:  Seventeen-year-old Eva is a chosen one. Chosen to live, while others meet a swift and painful death from an incurable virus so lethal, a person is dead within days of symptoms emerging. In the POD system, a series of underground habitats built by the government, she waits with the other chosen for the deadly virus to claim those above. Separated from family and friends, it's in the PODs she meets David. And while true love might not conquer all, it's a balm for the broken soul.

After a year, scientists believe the population has died, and without living hosts, so has the virus. That's the theory, anyway. But when the PODs are opened, survivors find the surface holds a vicious secret. The virus mutated, infecting those left top-side and creating... monsters.

Eva and David hide from the infected in the abandoned PODs. Together they try to build a life--a new beginning. But the infected follow and are relentless in their attacks. Leaving Eva and David to fight for survival, and pray for a cure.

Read Goodreads review.
Read Amanda's review.
Buy on Barnes and Noble.
Buy on Amazon.

How to Enter:
Enter the giveaway using Rafflecopter. Hit the arrow buttons, follow the prompts, and hit the enter buttons when you're done. (You may have to log in using Facebook to do this). There will be one winner (selected by Rafflecopter). I will contact the winner via email. This contest is open to national entrants. 

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Monday Muse: Jimmy Skoog -- Pompeii by Bastille

Today I'm doing a little promo for a fellow artist!

Following the release of his February mixtape "Hometown Hero", Swedish rapper JaeWon is back with new music. This time he puts the pseudonyms aside and gets ready to release a load of new material this fall.

To start it off he brings us his own version of Bastille's smash hit "Pompeii".

Artist: JIMMY SKOOG

Original: BASTILLE - POMPEII

Additional production: ALEX ISAAK ( alexisaak.com )

YOUTUBE-LINK: http://youtu.be/RVL36i3KEYU

SOUNDCLOUD-LINK: https://soundcloud.com/jimmyskoog/jimmy-skoog-pompeii-bastille

ARTWORK: https://www.dropbox.com/s/omofmn2cj6cykpg/pompeii%20cover.jpg

TEASER FOR MY UPCOMING YOUTUBE SERIES: http://youtu.be/801TaxNNSqY

LYRICS:

Verse 1:

Can you hear me, I'm calling you //

it's getting hard to see the darkness through //

summer just left us with autumn blues //

and I'm having a hard time to follow through //

but when they photoshop and auto tune //

emotions off take out all the truth //

we go for that dream and chase that feeling // ('cause)

when we were kids that was all we knew // (HEY!)

always felt this adrenaline rush //

in my soul that's lead me to kicking up dust //

doctor prescribing medicine that //

he said would keep me from giving a fuck // (w'the fuck?)

just keep on living it up //

when they push you down, just turn everything up //

what, am I supposed to be giving this up? //

all the things that made me, you're kidding me, huh... // 

Verse 2: 

We don't care what they say //

when they say we're failures //

'cause it is up us now //

and only we can save us //

can't shake us, sh-shake us //

can't hold us down or contain us //

we just keep marching //

can't knock us down, they won't break us, SO //

this is it boys, this is war //

what the hell are we waiting for? //

misunderstood and misinformed //

we've been living our lives but can't take no more //

we will fight till they make us kings //

and make sure when they hear our names they cringe //

tear that roof till its caving in //

and we won't look back we're just taking wing... //

CONTACT:

Jimmy Skoog

iamjimmyskoog@gmail.com

jimmyskoog.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jimmyskoog

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/iamjimmyskoog

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/jimmyskoog

Instagram: @jimmyskoog

FOR YOUR HEART -- Sneaky Peek 2:

Another excerpt from my upcoming YA paranormal romance novel, FOR YOUR HEART.  If you're interested in reading more, check it out here and don't forget to tell your friends!

            I slip down the oak and kneel behind the trunk of a white pine.  She has stopped spinning and is now pacing forward, her eyes scanning the ground like she's looking for something.  Then she stops and I see what she sees.  Everything inside me freezes solid.  I fight to breathe, I fight to stop her, but I can't move.  She steps forward and crouches in front of one of Roxel’s precious jewels.

            No, don't touch the roses.

            She reaches out and her fingers delicately trace the deep red petals of the tallest, most beautiful rose.  A delicious shiver dances up my spine.  The look on her face is enough to electrocute my heart back into beating and I draw in an awed breath.  She’s so beatific and enrapt that I’m entranced by her pleasure.  I never knew a woman could look at something with such innocent, unbridled pleasure.  Her eyes go liquid and her cheeks flush a shade pinker, her warmth spreads through my veins like a summer's breeze.  Her lips part ever so slightly, like she's expecting a kiss – one I’m more than willing to give. Then I hear it:

            Snap

            I blink and my eyes trace the smooth length of her arm.  She's got the rose's stem in her hand, but the stem no longer reaches into the ground.  Inch by inch, the space between the flower and dirt grows until Lovely has the petals against her soft lips and, eyes closed, is savoring the scent of the faerie queen's sacred bloom.

            For a moment, the simple act sends a primal ripple of pleasure slithering over my skin.  But then my mind takes hold and my heart gallops wild, fear eating my intestines like a rabid wolf.  What is Roxel going to do to me?  I’m to protect her roses, that’s why she sent me to patrol Carver Hall Park.  What will I do?  She's going to kill me.

            Suddenly, I'm filled with hatred for this tantalizing but destructive human girl.  She couldn't appreciate the beauty before her, she had to destroy it.  Why should I die on account of her folly? 

            Before I realize what I'm doing, I let out a roar and leap through the underbrush.  I grasp her by her treacherous hand, throw her to the ground, and hold her there. 

            “What have you done!?” I demand, knowing full well the implications of what I'm asking.  “How dare you come to this place!  How dare you pick a rose!  How dare you break its stem!  Do you not understand that you must ask leave of me!?”

            Lovely’s fingers loosen around the rose as terror slackens her muscles.  Those fae green eyes chase her crimson sin as it falls to the ground.  Then she stares at me, as if she can’t believe I am real.

            I tighten my grasp, drawing her attention to my hand shackled around her wrist, reassuring her that I am no dream.  “Speak up.”

Feature Friday: April Tucholke

April Genevieve Tucholke is a writer who digs classic movies, red-headed villains, big kitchens, and discussing murder at the dinner table. She lives in Oregon at the edge of the forest.


Interview:

A.L.:
What piece of advice would you give to a budding author?

April:
Stay curious. Be interesting.

A.L.:
What's your favorite book and why?


April:
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.
Because of lines like this:

"She wore a gown the color of storms, shadows, and rain and a necklace of broken promises and regrets."

And:

"I know magicians and I know magic and I say this: all magicians lie and this one more than most."

A.L.:
Where did you get the idea for Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea?

April:
 I read this truth-is-stranger-than-fiction article when I was living in Scotland: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/8574484.stm The entire book spun off from this...

A.L.:
Did you hit any snags while writing Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea? What were they and how did you fix them?

April:
The ending was tricky. But then, they always are. What's the downright scariest thing I can make this character do right now? How do I have this character do this thing, and yet still be likeable? It was a delicate balance...

A.L.:
Which one of the characters in Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is your favorite and why?

April:
River, of course. That charming, screwed up liar.

A.L.:
Can you tell us a little bit about your journey as an author?

April:
I got a creative writing degree in college, and I hated the kind of writing that was taught--anti-genre, wholesome, sentimental, mind-numbing realism. I loathe that kind of thing. So dull, so boring. I stopped writing for a long time after I graduated. Eventually I tried again--it was over a decade later. It took 3 manuscripts and a lot of hell and missteps and nightmarish rejections. But it worked out in the end. Which is pretty incredible.

A.L.:
What are you working on now?  Sequel?  Something new?

April:
I'm doing edits on the sequel, BETWEEN THE SPARK AND THE BURN. And then I'm back to working on my post-apoc WIP, THE SCARECROW.

A.L.:
OMG, I love this cover and this title like WHOA.  Are you totally in love with it too?

April:
Yeah. I love it too. Glad I got to keep my title. Glad I got a font-driven cover.

A.L.:
Did you originally pitch Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea as a gothic horror?  Can you explain what gothic horror is to our readers?

April:
I pitched it as horror. But it was later pointed out to me that my book leaned Gothic, and I had to agree. You put a lonely, semi-orphaned girl in a rotting mansion on the sea, and send a mysterious, dangerous boy her way...that's pretty much Gothic fiction in a nutshell.

A.L.:
Who is your favorite redheaded villain?

April:
My husband.

The Giveaway:  
April is giving away a signed copy of BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA, once the book comes out and it's International!

Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea:  You stop fearing the devil when you’re holding his hand…

Nothing much exciting rolls through Violet White’s sleepy, seaside town…until River West comes along. River rents the guesthouse behind Violet’s crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard. Is River just a crooked-smiling liar with pretty eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something more? Violet’s grandmother always warned her about the Devil, but she never said he could be a dark-haired boy who takes naps in the sun, who likes coffee, who kisses you in a cemetery...who makes you want to kiss back. Violet’s already so knee-deep in love, she can’t see straight. And that’s just how River likes it.

Blending faded decadence and the thrilling dread of gothic horror, April Genevieve Tucholke weaves a dreamy, twisting contemporary romance, as gorgeously told as it is terrifying—a debut to watch.

Read Goodreads reviews.
Buy on Amazon.
Buy on Barnes and Noble.

How to Enter:
Enter the giveaway using Rafflecopter. Hit the arrow buttons, follow the prompts, and hit the enter buttons when you're done. (You may have to log in using Facebook to do this). There will be one winner (selected by Rafflecopter). I will contact the winner via email. This contest is open to international entrants. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday Muse: AFI--I Hope You Suffer

So with the epic.

Feature Friday: Hal Johnson

I don't think Hal Johnson is a very unusual sort of a guy. He's just -- well, the average American citizen and family man, the kind that are the backbone of the nation. I admire him and like him. I like his attitude. Until, that is, he gets behind the wheel of an automobile. At that point he changes. He changes from a careful, considerate citizen—to a menace.
–"Driven to Kill," 1948 driver's safety film.

but if you want something more normal (=lame!), you can use:

Hal Johnson lives in New York, where he writes books, sells comics, and plays Dungeons and Dragons.

The Interview:

A.L.:
Where did you get the idea for Immortal Lycanthropes?

Hal:
All my good ideas I had when I was a little kid. Back then I’d been drawing pictures of people that could turn into different animals—badgers and otters and such—and imagining what would happen if they had to fight. But the problem is that there would be no reason for them to fight it out as animals—they’d just shoot each other, and the shrew would be just as tough as the lion. This was unacceptable to my young brain, so I made up the proviso that the animals could only be killed by each other in animal form, by their teeth or claws of horns or hooves. Bullets would barely slow them down.

This made me happy enough at the time, and I drew a bunch of pictures that probably don’t exist any more of people turning into weasels against the backdrop of some sort of post-apocalyptic landscape. Then I forgot all about the concept for a couple of decades, until I was pitching book ideas to an editor, all of which caused him to purse his lips and shake his head, sadly. In a fit of desperation I threw out “immortal lycanthropes.” The rest is history.

But the rest is always history. That’s what history is, the rest.

A.L.:
Did you hit any snags while writing Immortal Lycanthropes?  What were they and how did you fix them?

Hal:
The big snag came right at the beginning. I fretted a lot because the idea of immortal lycanthropes—it doesn’t make any sense, does it? Where do they come from? What are they after? What are they for? I knew my basic story, with Myron trying to find himself while hunted from all sides—but I didn’t know what kind of world the story could take place in, and I consequently spent a lot of time chewing my nails and not writing.

What I finally figured out was that the self-styled immortal lycanthropes should only be one small part of this world. Once I realized I could throw in Rosicrucians and Freemasons, and a whole secret history of the world with the lycanthropes snaking through it but not controlling it, everything fell into place. They think they’re special, but no one else does. They’re not even the only immortals in the book! Suddenly I understood what the immortal lycanthropes were for, and it’s the same thing we’re all for. Nothing much.

The whole tone of the book came from that revelation. Once you have the tone, all you have to do is just make up a bunch of stuff, so the rest was more or less cake.

A.L.:
What piece of advice would you give to a budding author?

Hal:
The dirty little secret to writing is that it’s really easy. There’s the whole hurdle of literacy to get over, but once you can write, actually doing it is as easy as an exercise. Which means being an author is trivial.

Of course, becoming the author you want to be—writing the thing you want to write—is far from trivial. The whole question hinges on what you want to write. Almost all advice to writers you’ll read should be taken with a grain of salt because it assumes you’ll want to write one kind of book, the kind that advice is geared towards. Clarity in writing is usually fine, but not necessarily if you're a modernist. "Show, don't tell" is bad advice if you're writing a fable. These are pretty extreme examples, but the differences between literary fiction and a Doc Savage pulp are large enough that Thomas Pynchon would be fired if he tried to ghostwrite for Kenneth Robeson. Stone-cold fired.

So the only real advice is to write the kind of thing you want to write; if you are unable to write it, either change what you want to write, or change yourself until you become the kind of person who can write what you want to write (which can be a terrifying process). Just don't stop writing, because if you do, all other advice is useless.

A.L.:
What's your favorite book and why?

Hal:
There are so many possible answers here—I love almost as many books as I hate. But the true answer is 5 Novels by Daniel Pinkwater. It’s an omnibus, so that’s kind of a cheat, but I am naturally dishonest, and don’t care.  I first read Pinkwater in fourth grade, and he’s had an immeasurable impact on both my life and my writing. All of his books have a similar plot—a kid who ranges from vaguely dissatisfied to full-on alienated gradually discovers another world that may be terrifying and may be beautiful but is at the very least not super-lame. I use “another world” in its broadest sense, as depending on the book it could be another dimension or it could be just a community of like-minded weirdoes congregating in all-night diners. The possibility of crossing over into any of these options sustained me through many a long and anxious night as a child, and years later I realized that almost all Pinkwater’s books can be read, with differing degrees of ease, as allegories for a mystical experience I’m still chasing after.

Myron’s escape from the humdrum world of suburban high school to a world of secret societies and were-mammals is a direct ripoff of Pinkwater’s plots. Many children’s authors before Pinkwater invoked two worlds—Barrie, Milne, Baum, Carroll—but in all of these the other world was if a metaphor for anything a metaphor for childhood or a child’s imagination, something that had to be abandoned ultimately if a child was going to reach adulthood. Pinkwater, in contrast, exploded the child/adult dichotomy by looking ahead to adulthood and offering an alternative. The alternative could be art and it could be time travel, but it was at the very least an option.

Anyway, 5 Novels contains three of his four best books, and two others that are just really good.

A.L.:
Which one of the characters in Immortal Lycanthropes is your favorite and why?

Hal:
Everyone assumes it’s Arthur the binturong, because he is (my friends say) the most like me. He gets to tell the story, after all, and his name is even close to “author” (that was an accident, or at least it wasn’t a conscious decision). But really, my favorite and the most fun to write was Mignon Emanuel. In many ways she’s a classic supervillain, training an army of henchmen in her secret lair, but she seems to have a real soft spot with Myron. She lies to him and manipulates him, but she always plays fair with him. What she says she’ll teach him, she teaches him; what she says he can get away with, she lets him get away with.

She’d almost seem like a decent person were it not that every time she appears in the book she has just murdered someone.

A.L.:
Can you tell us a little bit about your journey as an author?

Hal:
All I do is read, so spilling over into writing only seems natural; but for a long time I didn’t seriously intend to be a writer. I mean, it’s not that I didn’t want to be a writer, it’s just that it sounded like a pipe dream, about as likely as becoming a pirate, a cowboy, or an astronaut. The fact that I almost never wrote anything was a serious stumbling block, but it’s not like I was practicing busting broncos, either. If I thought at all about the future, I assumed I would be a paleontologist or a drifter.

Reading Jorge Luis Borges’s Labyrinths changed all that. It’s not that it made me want seriously to be a writer; it’s just that it made me write. I found copying Borges’s experimental story structures—where the story proper may be no more than summarized inside an elaborate frame narrative—extremely liberating. I’ll admit to producing some straight-up Borges pastiches I’m not so proud of, but it got the ball rolling, so to speak.

You know what the rest is.

A.L.:
What are you working on now?  Sequel?  Something new?

Hal:
I’m always a little worried about talking about a work in progress because so much can change along the way. Nabokov famously said that Lolita was inspired by an article he’d read about a gorilla the zoo’d taught how to draw, and the first thing it drew was the bars of his cage. Imagine if Nabokov had told his friends he was working on that book; and then instead of a gorilla novel they found he’d written something about a hyperarticulate sex offender. “Where’s the gorilla?”

 With that in mind, I just finished a sad book about two girls trying to escape their miserable existences into a fantasy land; and I’m now working on a book about a magic school. It’s like Harry Potter except the person who graduates last in his class gets eaten by the devil Makes the House Cup more competitive, like.

A.L.:
Why did you choose to make Myron, the main character, thirteen?

Hal:
In a way it’s the dumbest answer. I wanted to write a book for thirteen year olds, so I made the protagonist thirteen. Actually, I guess it turns out people usually read books about slightly older characters, so I probably should have made him sixteen or something. But when you’re sixteen in Pennsylvania you can drive, and it would have been a different book if Myron could have tooled around in a car to wherever he wanted to go.

Of course he’s actually several thousand years old. They should probably just let him drive.

A.L.:
Do you stay true to the typical lycanthropy mythos in this book or do you have your own unique spin on it?

Hal:
I had read a lot about lycanthropy, its history and folklore and potential scientific explanations, and then I threw everything out the window. In part it doesn’t matter because the idea that supernatural creatures should have a consistent set of powers is hardly more than a century old. Folklore (as opposed to romantic fictionalizations of folklore) gets vampires and werewolves all tangled up. For that matter it’s also filled with dragons who fight with swords and giants whose daughters are 5’4”. Consistency is not what oral tradition is good at.

But I grew up playing Dungeons and Dragons and making sure all monsters had stats. Werewolves with their 4+3 hit dice; werbears with 7+3. So I needed a series of rules that the characters in the book all would play by. These are the rules Myron needs to figure out as he goes.

 Phases of the moon and silver bullets are out. People do turn into animals. Everything else is a spoiler.

A.L.:
If you could be any paranormal creature, what would you be?

Hal:
THE TARRASQUE!

The Giveaway:
Hal is giving away a signed, personalized hardcover with a sketch of the winner's choice (people usually pick their favorite animal, but he can also draw pirates, ugly faces, or whatever).

Immortal Lycanthropes:  “A shameful fact about humanity is that some people can be so ugly that no one will be friends with them. It is shameful that humans can be so cruel, and it is shameful that humans can be so ugly.”

So begins the incredible story of Myron Horowitz, a disfigured thirteen-year-old just trying to fit in at his Pennsylvania school. When a fight with a bully leaves him unconscious and naked in the wreckage of the cafeteria, Myron discovers that he is an immortal lycanthrope—a were-mammal who can transform from human to animal. He also discovers that there are others like him, and many of them want Myron dead. “People will turn into animals,” says the razor-witted narrator of this tour-de-force, “and here come ancient secrets and rivers of blood.”





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