Karin Slaughter Interview- I asked and she answered!

Have you ever had the chance to chat to your favourite author?

Well a couple of weeks ago I was so damn lucky to be invited to a Q&A with one of my all time favs~KARIN SLAUGHTER! 

This woman knows how to rock your world and I'm not talking sex~although there's a little action there~ so get your minds out of the gutter- I'm talking about shake in shock until your bones hurt, cry your eyes out three books after one of the main characters have died, ignore your kids so you can read the next chapter. This woman knows her shit when it comes to engrossing the reader.

Okay, now that I have filled you in on her ability, let's get on with the Q&A part of this blog. 

When I got the email I said to my hubby that I didn't want to ask her the same questions they all ask, no I wanted to be different. pft.

Most ask if Slaughter is her real name- amazingly it is. Spooky huh!

They ask about Jeffrey and why she killed him off since we all LOVE him- I know why because she wrote a letter to her readers and I get her reasoning not to mention she has now softened that blow with Will. 

Sarah needed to leave her small town to progress the series and she wouldn't if Jeffrey was still there, after all if anything else happened in that town the community would leave-I would.

There were all these questions and more and I wanted to know things like How she keeps her timeline on track, I'm fond of books with character divisions and when totally stuffed, butchers paper -lots and lots of butchers paper.

I wanted to know where she thinks of her stories- apparently Georgians would know you spend a lot of time in traffic possibly thinking about how to kill. -That made me laugh which also answered one of my other questions. Where do you write? lap, office wherever you can? 

It was quite nice to see she was just like any of us and her mind did what it did best and allowed her to drive on auto-pilot while we thought of out next plot/scene outline.

I love how down to earth and open she is when speaking about her writing and personality traits, or others as it happens 'quote'  " As a matter of fact, almost every crime writer I know is pretty laid back and nice. Michael Connelly is a big teddy bear. Denise Mina is hilarious. Lisa Gardner is a sweetheart. Lee Child is one of the most tenderhearted, gentle men I know. Mo Hayder is...well, okay, she's an exception. And Gillian Flynn will cut you as soon as look at you, but that's another story."

Gosh dang, I love her. LOL.

And do you want to know what I love most about Karin? She took the time out of her busy schedule to read our questions and answer them honestly. Not many would do this for readers and authors.

Karin you're an inspiration and one hell of an awesome thriller author!

For those who have never read Karin's work, I suggest you give it a go because you're missing out. Here's her website http://www.karinslaughter.com/ where you will find more titles than shown.

 

 

Get reading!

Kez

Johns River School reading and Q&A for Book Week

 Today I had the privilege to be asked to read to all the children of Johns River Public School for Book Week followed by a Q&A.

I read the 190 year old 'The House That Jack Built' and thankfully they loved it just as much as my babies did.

The Q&A was amazing, these kids asked better questions than most people at my author chats and as it turned out, there are three budding authors in the making at the age of twelve. TWELVE!

It was fantastic and then the principal asked if I wouldn't mind spending time with the ones who were interested in more information during recess in the oval, of course I was interested.

I ended up spending over an hour with my daughter and two exceptional young girls with amazing imaginations and found myself jealous. LOL. I was jealous that they had such amazing stories and minds at such a young age.

These girls and I ran through ideas and they told me about the books they had already started and we brainstormed- holy bat crap- brainstorming with twelve year old budding authors was so much fun and inspiring, yes, inspiring!

I know that these two girls will be famous one day and I'm going to beam with pride when they do.

Thank you Johns River students and thank you to the girls who shared their dreams with me, I feel so privileged to have spent this time with you and it felt good to share what I've learnt. It's our excitement, knowledge that inspire others. 

Kez 

I Blame Abbi Glines & Karlene Blakemore-Mowle

When I should be editing and writing the third book of my YA series currently sitting on Penguins desk for approval I'm actually being a tad naughty and giving into my weakness for great reads.

The first week of August was spent with characters from Abbi Glines and Karlene Blakemore-Mowles books.

                        Firstly, I know I'm behind the proverbial 8 ball with Abbi's books:

The Vincent Boys is part 1 of a two book series and I must say I was addicted from go. Ash and Beau were a hot young couple who I fell in love with so easily.
Another one of those stories where you can't help but be in love with the two boys at once and yet Abbi was clever with her craft because you don't want to slap Ashton  for not making a choice you approve of and you understand where she is coming from.
I have a thing for the tortured soul so of course Beau had me right from the moment he blinked and he deserves the love of his life and hell... I don't know what to say other than they needed each other end of story.

The Vincent Brothers of course is part two and I will warn you now that when you finish one you WILL buy two. Abbi has not let us down in the heat or love catagory with part two and has thrown quite a spin on the story.
Sawyer all heart broken begins to fall for Ashton's cousin, the made over, sexy Lana and boy oh boy does he fall. I LOVED Sawyer in this book, it shows the real him and actually the real Ash too.
I don't feel as though Sawyer lost out after all and I found myself recalling my youthful days at the beach and parties when I first met my husband and the confusion and insecurities excitement in a relationship that was so quickly fevered and new.
Thank you Abbi and I have become one heck of a fan.


Next is Karl's book- The Cottage By The Lake.

This author continues to surprise me with the gist to write different genres. I am a massive fan of her OPERATION SUMMER STORM series and so I happily took the leap when she wrote a fantasy novel.
Now, I will warn you that the editing had something to anser for and I had contacted her about this. Karly is very disappointed in the editing of this novel, her gallery edits did NOT have the mistakes that have been published so please bare this in mind when reading. BUT it also didn't tear me from the story of Lucy and Burk...mmmm, Burk.
I read anxiously to find out if what I suspected was true and loved the turn of events and time this book took me. This is a Once Upon A Time meets A Knights Tale and I loved it and wonder if I would enjoy the fantasy genre in general, so thank you Karly for opening me up to new reads.

So as you can see, I had a busy week and although I should feel guilty I actually feel like reading more. Eeek. It's definitely the weather for it here as I sit under my duvet and will myself not to turn the heater on yet after getting my $600.00 electricity bill and currently out of wood.

Sigh, I think I need to go read something to cheer me up. 

Bahahaha, do you see how this works ;)

Happy reading and writing

Kez