MeanKitty Interviews Liana Brooks

A week or so ago I said I was looking for guest bloggers, and one daring soul piped up and asked if I wanted to be interviewed by her cat. I didn't see a reason to say no, so here it is, my interview with Meankitty, the star of www.jodywallace.com. I'm sure Jody doesn't mind sharing the spotlight. 

Meankitty Wants To Know...
1) Why did you decide to be a writer instead of a cat sanctuary owner?

Hmmm.... good question. I think it’s because I had four cats in high school and wanted to try something else. Also, bad books do not poo on my bed or pee in my shoes when angry.

2) Why do you think cats are better than Mastiff puppies and beta fish?
(Since you call yourself a writer, I trust your answer will be eloquent.)

Oh, dear, let’s see.... Cats are much better at being felines, they travel better than mastiffs or fish (especially on airplanes), and they are excellent at eating mice. Mastiffs only step on mice and then leave you mouse pancakes to pick up. Meankitty should consider getting a mastiff for a chef. They make excellent mouse pancakes.

3) Why is your household currently deprived of a cat?

Sadly, most cats would fit into the mouth of our mastiff, and the puppy hasn’t yet learned how strong she is. Also, the position of Diva And Tyrant is filled by our four-year-old, Tyranna Regina, who believes she owns the universe and all things therein. A cat would only be competition, and the four-year-old bites competition for attention.

4) Tell me about the felines in your fiction. How often do they appear and
how big a part do they play in your narratives? Are any of your VILLAINS cat
owners, because they should be.

None of my villains are cat owners, they are minion owners because pets require too much selfless love for villains. However, you will be pleased to know that I have a series where cats are the heroes. Several of the heroes are tigers, but at least one of them is a common tabby cat, his name is Baldric and he is very good at research. There are currently four books planned in that series, which I hope will appease the Meankitty fandom.

5) On the off-chance you have yet to incorporate cats into your fiction,
when or how do you plan to rectify this egregious error and demonstration of
poor writing skills?

The first book in the Cat series is due out in 2018, if the stars align properly.

6) What are your favorite works of fiction or cinema involving cats or
favorite fictional cats?

I love THE CAT WHO TALKS TO GHOSTs, because who wouldn’t love a crime solving cat? But my favorite fictional cats are the twenty-some cats the witch Morwen lives with in the the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. Not only are those cats sassy, and able to turn a rabbit into a flying blue donkey, but they also have healing powers. They’re quite lovely cats.

7) Do you have any amazing, or at least humorous, real life cat stories
you'd like to share? Barring cat stories, you may share stories about your
Mastiff puppy embarrassing itself if you like.

My first cat was a black stray named Javiera, who wandered through my open bedroom window and had kittens on my parents bed when I was a toddler. Although the kittens were rehomed, Javiera and her friend Fluffy (a Persian) lived out the rest of their lives with me.

My favorite kitten though was Paisley, a calico manx. She was the result of an unwanted pregnancy (spay and neuter your pets!), and the person who had her planned to feed the kitten to the snake. I asked to play with Paisley, stuck her in my coat pocket, and told the woman that the kitten had run into the shrubs. Then I smuggled her upstairs to my bedroom and wouldn’t let her out for a week. I’m happy to say my mother let me keep Paisley, and she’s still living with my mom today (I wasn’t allowed to take her to college and Old Lady Cats do not like infants).

I do have funny puppy stories, but it’s mostly about mastiffs running and not being able to stop before they hit – and break – the fence.

8) How do your puppy and your fish get along?

Spike, the beta fish, tolerates everyone but loves only Tyranna Regina – the resident Diva and the keeper of his fish food. The mastiff puppy was told not to drink Spike’s water, and has since forgotten that Spike exists. Mastiff puppies do not have good memories.

9) What does your dog do to interfere with your writing?

Sometimes the puppy demands to be written into my stories. Puppy is our third mastiff, and the youngest one we’ve ever owned (the others were rescue dogs and older). Sadly, our Big Dog died suddenly this summer and there was a Dog-shaped hole in our lives. That sadness resulted in a scene in one of my books. Puppy’s arrival is also documented in the form of Bosco.

10) If you were going to write a paranormal or SF book about cats (assuming
you haven't already), would it be romance, mystery, thriller, or what? And
where would dogs and fish play a role in your fascinating, wonderful cat
world?

As I said, I am writing a series with cats as protagonists. It is a science-fiction book with romantic elements, and lots of gene engineering.

My favorite cat in that series is Ice, an 800-pound white tiger with a bad temper and killer blue eyes. He is friends with a fish (a shark to be precise) named Maggie, and winds up owning favors to a dog named Wolf (because I was bad at naming things that day). They go on adventures, save the universe a few times, and blow up way more than the budget allows for. They get yelled at.... Ice snarls, Maggie smiles, and Wolf sneakily does things in undisclosed locations.

Ice also knows a human child who he sometimes babysits, and one time he let her ride to school on his back because she was running later. Arriving to school riding a tiger makes an impression on the other kids at school. She was a lot more popular after that. But so is anyone who has cats who love them. J

Jody Wallace grew up in the South in a very rural area. She went to school a long time and ended up with a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing. Her resume includes college English instructor, technical documents editor, market analyst, web designer, and general all around pain in the butt.

She currently lives in Tennessee with her family: 1 husband, 2 kids, 2 cats. One of her many alter egos is “The Grammar Wench”, which should give you an indication of her character. She is a terrible packrat and likes to amass vintage clothing, books, Asian-inspired kitchenware, gnomes, yarn, and other items that threaten to force her family out of the house. She also likes cats. A lot.

The Question That Didn't Make It To The Interview

What made you want to be a writer?

NOTE: I get this question almost every time I'm interviewed and honestly, it's a horrible story. I wasn't the kid who cosplayed Jane Austen and dreamed of being a writer. I wanted to be the first marine biologist to pilot a sub on the water moon Europa. My life went in another direction, which makes this question difficult to answer. So, here it is, the answer that didn't make it to the interviews.


Nothing. I never intended to be a published author. In 2005 I was fresh out of college, struggling with postpartum depression, and trapped in a new home with two small children while my husband was at his new job.

We’d moved to an area with no family or friends. We only had one car so I couldn’t leave the house. And we recently learned our oldest, who was 3, had a severe speech and hearing disorder that was going to require weekly trips to therapists and doctors to correct.

I turned down a job offer because I couldn’t sync my daughter’s needs with a 9-5 work schedule, and I felt horribly lost. My entire life I’d measured myself based on grades and the approbations of others, but I had nothing. There was no measure for what I was doing. No way to know from day to day whether or not I was doing anything worthwhile.

Writing was measureable. The children went to bed at 7, and my husband usually didn’t get off work until 10, so I devoted those three hours each night to writing one page of a book. It kept me sane. On the worst days it kept me from falling to pieces under the stress of depression and dealing with the demands of a special needs child who was still not diagnosed.

Now, we have a diagnosis, we have four children, my husband has a better job that allows him to be home at better hours. And writing is still my escape. It’s where I go to relax and keep myself grounded. On the bad days I tell myself it could always be worse; I could be a character in one of my books.

_________________________________________________________

For those who want to know... Eldest has something called an Audio Processing Disorder or Central Audio Processing Disorder. It's like dyslexia for sounds rather than letters. There is no cure, only work-arounds, and she still goes to speech therapy twice a week. 

APD will not limit Eldest's academic potential. She's on the honor roll and headed for college. In every new school she attends I have to sit the teachers down and explain what APD is. If you're a parent with an APD child, feel free to email me. I'll let you know what worked for us. :)

Interview with Patrick Stutzman and Book Giveaway

Today we have the author of ALONE ON THE EDGE on the blog, and he brought a copy of his book to giveaway, just comment for a chance to win.

Liana: Welcome to the blog! I’m so excited to read your new book, can you tell us a little bit about it in under 200 words?

Patrick: ALONE IN PARADISE picks up almost immediately where ALONE ON THE EDGE leaves off. Anna has crash-landed on the Earth-like moon she discovered and now struggles to survive in an alien wilderness while trying to repair the ship and return home. As she does so, she uncovers some of the moon’s secrets and quickly learns that she is not as alone as she originally thought. Fights against alien creatures and a harrowing encounter with space pirates push Anna to her limits and threaten her very existence before we reach the exciting climax in the second book of the trilogy.

Liana: Tell us a little about Anna, your main character, what kind of person is she?

Patrick: In general, Anna a warm, kind person who is highly skilled with machines. At least, she seems that way during the prologue of the first book. As time goes on, we find that her patience has grown thin when it comes to computers that talk back. Although her talents lie are more technical in nature, she does have a more artistic side to her. She enjoys a wide variety of music and has an appreciation of the visual arts, some of which can be seen throughout the first book. Needless to say, Anna is an extreme introvert; she would have to be to survive being by herself for an extended period of time.

Liana: In your synopsis you mention that Anna does some “creative reprogramming” of a computer, where did this idea come from? Do you have a temperamental computer at home?

Patrick: Yeah, I suppose “creative reprogramming” is a term for what she does. I have a technical side to me as well. I have repaired computers and a variety of household appliances. In that regard, I suppose you could say that Anna and I have a lot in common. (Write what you know. Right?) My history with computer repair definitely came into play when I wrote that particular scene. As for temperamental computers at home, I do have one where the mouse will either double- and triple-click anytime a single-click is done or not click anything at all. Needless to say, it can be really frustrating when playing World of Warcraft.

Liana: Where did you get the idea for Anna’s story?

Patrick: A lot of Anna’s story came out of the dark recesses of my head. For most of my life, I have been an avid player of tabletop roleplaying games, such as Dungeons & Dragons. In fact, I spend more time as a game master than a player. Through those experiences, I developed an ability to create plotlines on-the-fly and make them stick. The idea behind the first novel started as an experiment, asking “What if I put a woman by herself on a space station in the middle of nowhere?” The rest, after drafting a rough outline, simply used my roleplaying skills to fill in the details and move the story on from there. The second and third books are following the same basic process. As it is now, an idea for a fourth, originally unplanned novel is assembling in my head.

Liana: Is there any other projects on the horizon or good news you’d like to tell us about?

Patrick: In addition to the third (and possibly fourth) novel I mentioned earlier, I have plans for two other books, one of which will be set in the same universe as the Chronicles of Anna Foster series. I also like to keep my hand in game designing, like I did when I wrote for the Star Wars Roleplaying Game, Saga Edition. My current project involves creating products for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game through Super Genius Games. As an added plus, I fully designed the board game Anna played in my first book. It is called Datsu-Shutsu! and is available as a free download through my website.

Liana: Thank you so much for coming!

ALONE ON THE EDGE

After accepting a job as a robotic engineer that sends her to a mining station at the edge of explored space, Anna Foster finds that her position is not what she expects and must adjust to life as the only living being aboard, struggling to keep her freedom and her sanity while a relentless computer lords over her existence.

On Good Reads, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble (available in both e-book and paperback)

Comment for a chance to win a free copy!

Interview with Anna Scarlett and DEGREES OF WRONG giveaway!

Anna, you live (relatively) close to the CDC in Atlanta and a major naval base in Pensacola, and obviously the beach is near and dear to your heart. Is all of that incidental, or did the location inspire Elyse's story? If it didn't, where did the idea come from?

Oh GEEZ this is going to sound nerdy, but here goes:


I’ve actually been plotting this story since I was a kid. Remember that TV Show SeaQuest DSV? I used to fantasize about being a child prodigy on that ship and being the love interest of Lucas (played by the yummy Jonathan Brandis—dear God please tell me you know what I’m talking about!).

I kinda sorta nurtured that little love story until it screamed for a release (pun entirely intended) and I sat down and wrote it and decided that the world should know of my embarrassing infatuation/nerdiness. (Please don’t tell my family).


The heroine of DEGREES OF WRONG is hotshot scientist Dr. Elyse Morgan, if you were placed in her shoes, how well would you save the world?

Um, no.

When I was in high school, I wanted to be a doctor. I even earned college scholarships from hospitals. Then my mom got hospitalized. I watched as they put her IV needle in and blood shot across the room and splattered the wall behind me like a mini crime scene and I got all sweaty and hot and then…I’m pretty sure I ruined that nurse’s shoes.

If the world could be saved by overindulging in fried chicken though, I’ve got you covered.



Fans of the blog already know you have a YA mermaid book, OF POSEIDON, written under the name of Anna Banks. What brought you from mermaid kingdoms to submarines and dangerous diseases? What about writing SFR appealed to you, and do you see yourself ever writing far-future sci-fi?

Actually, I wrote DEGREES OF WRONG before I wrote OF POSEIDON. My heart really is in sci-fi, and I did try to create OF POSEIDON to be scientifically feasible. DEGREES OF WRONG is set slightly in the future; I don’t want to go too far ahead because I want my reader to recognize some aspects of their own world at the present time, in order to connect better with my character. In fact, my next project, after OF TRITON is edited, will be a futuristic sci-fi YA called NEMESIS set in about 2050 AD as well…




I've heard authors say that every book is a learning experience, and research sci-fi often leads authors to strange places with their research. What did you learn with this book?

I learned a lot about how different viruses work, and how some of them are treated. I did a lot of research on the Black Plague—the real one that struck Europe all those centuries ago. It was horrific. Plus, history suggests that we are LONG overdue for a pandemic. Not to alarm you, but we’re all gonna die.



What's your favorite scene in DEGREES OF WRONG? Which one demanded your attention and begged to be written to the point where you couldn't wait to write it? We can put in a spoiler warning if we need to. :)

I really love the part where Elyse had to explain to Nicoli that she had accidentally assaulted Lt. Horan. I had the cheesiest grin on my face the entire time I wrote that scene, and any time I go back for edits I always crack up. I just can’t HALP it.



Thank you for coming by!

Anna has generously donated an e-copy of DEGREES OF WRONG. Leave a comment for a chance to win. For extra entries, follow Anna and myself on Twitter, tweet about the contest, and add DEGREES OF WRONG to your GoodReads shelf.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This time, the straight-and-narrow path could be the road to ruin.

Dr. Elyse Morgan’s mission: find the cure to the HTN4 virus. The compensation, courtesy of the United Nations: a lab stocked with hi-tech goodies, limitless resources and enough chocolate to make her rear look like a cellulite farm. Bonus: she gets to live.

Rescued (kidnapped) and secreted (imprisoned) on an undersea warship, Elyse adjusts to her assumed identity as a cadet with the finesse of a toeless ballerina. Her sulfuric temper and blatant insubordination capture the unwanted attention of the ship’s captain, the gorgeous, infuriating, engaged Nicoli Marek.

Elyse would rather perform her own autopsy than become the other woman, but Nicoli—who’s as full of himself as he is of secrets—regards his impending marriage as a mere political transaction. And Elyse as fair game.

As Elyse’s suspicions about the UN’s true agenda mount along with her attraction to the relentless, chronically shirtless captain, she must choose between the murky path to everything she’s ever wanted, or the squeaky-clean path of self-sacrifice—which could mean taking the secrets of the virus with her to the grave.

Warning: Features a strong, chocolate-loving heroine who takes no prisoners on the way to saving the world from an epidemic and winning a captain’s heart.

Anna's first published work was a letter to the editor of her local newspaper complaining about stingy tippers-she was a 17 year old waitress. The letter got her a free dinner at the restaurant where she worked, and dirty looks from all the stingy tippers. Now that her mother has passed away, Anna feels it's safe to reveal that she also wrote other students' term papers for prom money in high school. Her favorite pastimes include reading, writing, drinking wine, and reading and writing while drinking wine. She can shoot a sling shot, speak with a southern accent, and take a nap in the middle of the day, any day of the week-at a moment's notice, no less. She cannot rollerblade, apply liquid eyeliner, or find her keys. Ever.