S.G Browne

Breathers: A Zombie's Lament

Meet Andy Warner, a recently deceased everyman and newly minted zombie. Resented by his parents, abandoned by his friends, and reviled by a society that no longer considers him human, Andy is having a bit of trouble adjusting to his new existence. But all that changes when he goes to an Undead Anonymous meeting and finds kindred souls in Rita, an impossibly sexy recent suicide with a taste for the formaldehyde in cosmetic products, and Jerry, a twenty-one-year-old car-crash victim with an exposed brain and a penchant for Renaissance pornography. When the group meets a rogue zombie who teaches them the joys of human flesh, things start to get messy, and Andy embarks on a journey of self-discovery that will take him from his casket to the SPCA to a media-driven class-action lawsuit on behalf of the rights of zombies everywhere.

What has been your favourite zombie novel to write so far and why?

Technically I’ve only written one zombie novel and one zombie novella, so I suppose my answer would have to be Breathers, my first and only zombie novel. (The novella, I Saw Zombies Eating Santa Claus is an unplanned sequel.) But even had I written other zombie novels, Breathers would likely remain at the top of the list for several reasons: the characters (especially Andy, Rita, and Jerry); the thematic drive (finding your purpose in society in which you have no purpose); and the social commentary. Plus it was just a great deal of fun to write.

Zombie shows are really popular on TV at the moment. What are your favourite zombie shows/films to watch?

To be honest, I don’t tend to watch a lot of zombie television shows. I have watched the first three seasons of The Walking Dead, but I tend to get tired of the typical post-apocalyptic zombie story. I’m not that interested in how humans deal with their drama in the face of zombies. I’d rather see the story told from the POV of the living dead. But then, that’s what my zombie stories are about. Flipping things around and making the monsters the heroes of the story and the humans the villains. I find that approach much more compelling.

If you could write a novel about any other supernatural creature what would you choose to write it about?

Werewolves. Maybe Bigfoot, though he’s more of an urban legend than supernatural. So I’ll stick with werewolves.

If you could write a novel with another author who would you choose to write a novel with?

Christopher Moore. The man can flat out write. And he has a twisted, whimsical sense of humor. I would probably just sit and watch him write and applaud.

If a movie was made of 'I saw Zombies Eating Santa Clause' who would you like to play the main characters?

I always thought Jason Segel would make a great Andy, though Joseph Gordon-Levitt could fit the bill, too. As for the other characters, I don’t have any preferences that immediately come to mind, but if the casting director could find a way to sneak either Steve Buscemi or Christopher Walken in there, I wouldn’t complain.

Whenever you write a novel where do you like to go to do this (e.g. a favourite cafe, your lounge, a park, etc)?

I often walk a couple of blocks to my local café, order my medium mocha, then sit down at a table and write for three hours or so while listening to my mix of instrumental funk, R&B, jazz, rock, and surf tunes. Then I’ll write for another three hours or so back in my apartment either on the couch or at my desk, often with my cat pestering me for attention.

 If you could do a book signing in another country which country would you choose and why?

I’m a big fan of Paris. I love the art and the food and it’s a great walking city. Plus I have several novels published in the French language, so it would be hard to turn down an opportunity to do a signing in France. But I also love London and York and enjoy good English ales, so that would be a tough call. Can I do both and just take the Chunnel?

 If you could write yourself as a character in one of your novels, how would you describe your character?

A liberal-minded animal lover who lives at the beach, is most comfortable in shorts and a T-shirt and bare feet, indulges in books and movies whenever possible, and prefers an intimate evening with good friends to a wild night out partying with a bunch of strangers. But the occasional wild night out partying with friends is acceptable, too.

 How long does it take you to write each novel and what is your writing process?

The length of time varies from novel to novel. I took more than two years to write Breathers, fourteen months for Fated, ten months for Lucky Bastard, eighteen months each for Big Egos and Less Than Hero, and two months for I Saw Zombies Eating Santa Claus. That’s first sentence to final draft before submitting to my agent/publisher, so each novel went through a good four to six drafts before I considered it finished.

As for my process, under ideal circumstances I write for several hours in the morning and several hours in the afternoon, six days a week. And I tend to try to get the story down before going back to edit, otherwise I’d spend weeks perfecting one chapter. I know I can always fix the problems later. But I often find myself tweaking things here and there as I go along. For me, the first draft is getting down the story and characters, while the rewrites are where the writing of the novel truly occurs.

What plans do you have in the future in terms of novels?

My fifth novel, Less Than Hero, comes out in March 2015. It’s a superhero story about a group of professional human guinea pigs who test Phase I clinical trial pharmaceutical drugs for a living and who discover that all of the drugs they’ve been testing have caused them to develop unusual side effects. It’s an obvious commentary on the proliferation of prescription drugs in today’s society, specifically in the United States.

Charlotte Bennardo Interview & Giveaway

Blonde Ops

Expelled from yet another boarding school for hacking, sixteen-year-old Rebecca "Bec" Jackson is shipped off to Rome to intern for Parker Phillips, the editor-in-chief of one of the world’s top fashion magazines. But when a mysterious accident lands Parker in a coma, former supermodel and notorious drama queen Candace Worthington takes the reins of the magazine. The First Lady is in Rome for a cover shoot, and all hands are on deck to make sure her visit goes smoothly. 

Bec quickly realizes that Parker's "accident" may not have been quite so accidental, and when the First Lady's life is threatened, Bec is determined to uncover the truth. On top of that, Bec must contend with bitchy models, her new boss, Candace, who is just as difficult as the tabloids say, and two guys, a hunky Italian bike messenger with a thousand-watt smile and a fashion blogger with a razor-sharp wit, who are both vying for her heart.

Can Bec catch the person who's after the First Lady, solve the mystery of Parker's accident, and juggle two cute boys at the same time? Blonde Ops is a fun, action-packed romp through the hallways of a fashion magazine and the cobblestone streets of Rome.

Did you have to do any research whilst you were writing the Sirenz novels?

Oh, gracious, yes! The setting for Blonde OPS was Rome, Italy. I’ve been to Milan and Florence, but never Rome, and neither has Nat. How could our character describe the streets she walked and the buildings and statues she saw? Guide books don’t give you that much information. To really get the feeling of Rome, we used Google Earth and ‘virtually’ walked around. Plus, all the hacker stuff? Nat went to a hacker convention and talked to actual hackers. Secret Service and info about the First Lady? Google, the Discovery Channel and other sources. (So much so that I’ve been flagged by the FBI and my browser shut down more than 20 times…. I wonder if I’ll be allowed on a plane…) EXTENSIVE research. Real hackers have said the research was excellent. Everything in the book is possible, even if not probable.

Will there be any more Sirenz novels in the future or just the 2 that have been released?

Sadly, at this point, although we had books 3 and 4 outlined, the publisher doesn’t wish to add sequels. But maybe a short story about those characters may show up somewhere…

 If you were a character from your novels would you be Meg, Shar or Bec?

That’s hard to say… First because I’m a lot older than any of them, and because Meg & Shar both share certain aspects of me: Meg, being the recycle queen, Shar, being blonde and tall. Bec is kind of neutral but is way smarter than me. I guess I’d have to go with Shar because she’s a smart ass at times like, um, me.

Have you been to any events like BEA, etc? Which was your favourite event and why?

Oh yes! The year Sirenz came out, we did an author signing at BEA. The publicist had said he was going to take a few copies so if there was no one waiting in line for our book, he’d ‘scare some up.’ We’d gone in the previous day and handed out bookmarks, talked to bloggers and anyone else we could. When we sat to sign, there was a long line and we autographed over 300 books! It’s one of my favorite memories of being an author.

 You and Natalie Zaman have done brilliant novels together. If you could write with any other author who would you choose to work with?

Oooh, tough question! I know so many fabulous authors and would love to work with all of them! But if I could choose, I’d have to say Sherrilyn Kenyon, my absolute fave author.

Which country do you wish you could do book signings in and why?

I would say Italy; my husband has family there, and being that Blonde OPS is set in Rome, maybe it would achieve Best Seller status- and I’d have fun visiting everywhere Bec went.

Blonde Ops has a James Bond feel about the novel. What are your favourite spy films?

Of course, anything James Bond! I think my fave Bond movie is Live and Let Die because Christopher Walken is so deliciously evil and Grace Jones was a kick ass-bad ass! And it’s set in Silicon Valley…. Hmmm.

 If you could be a character from your favourite TV series who would you want to be?

I want to be Abby from Sleepy Hollow. She’s smart, tough, and gets to work with the sexy Ichabod Crane. Plus she’s got firsthand proof of ghosts, evil, and the supernatural, all mixed in with history. No dull days for her!

How do you get inspiration for your novels?

Blonde OPS was a work for hire; the editors (we have two) asked us to write the novel based on their reading of Sirenz, and Sirenz Back In Fashion so the core ideas were theirs. The Sirenz novels were originally vampire novels until we saw how many vampire novels were out there already (and we knew more were coming). So we changed it to Greek mythology because Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series were so popular, only we wanted to make it more for girls. As for my solo novels, I get them from everyday things around me: a television show on space, a sentence in a book, seeing a blacksmith at a renaissance fair. Ideas are everywhere!

Will you be writing more novels with Natalie Zaman in the future and what other future novel plans do you have?

If there is a Blonde OPS sequel, we will def write it together, but currently Nat is doing non-fiction and I’m working on several solo novels. I have a sci fi with my agent that I hope will go out on submission soon, and a middle grade novel that I just completed that needs some serious polishing. Plus, I do NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) so that at the end of November, I have a year to edit a novel before I start on the next one (although I always work on several at one time). 

Leave a comment below for a chance to win a copy Blonde OPs. I will select a winner at random so check back to see if you have won. The winner will receive the novel from Amazon. So please make sure that Amazon ships to your country before you leave a comment below to enter the giveaway. The giveaway is international and will close one week from today. The closing date for the giveaway is Friday 12th September. I will be choosing a winner on Saturday 13th September.  

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW ENDED. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED AND GOOD LUCK!

Bethany Neal

My Last Kiss

What if your last kiss was with the wrong boy? 

Cassidy Haines remembers her first kiss vividly. It was on the old covered bridge the summer before her freshman year with her boyfriend of three years, Ethan Keys. But her last kiss--the one she shared with someone at her seventeenth birthday party the night she died--is a blur. Cassidy is trapped in the living world, not only mourning the loss of her human body, but left with the grim suspicion that her untimely death wasn't a suicide as everyone assumes. She can't remember anything from the weeks leading up to her birthday and she's worried that she may have betrayed her boyfriend. 

If Cassidy is to uncover the truth about that fateful night and make amends with the only boy she'll ever love, she must face her past and all the decisions she made--good and bad--that led to her last kiss.

Bethany Neal's suspenseful debut novel is about the power of first love and the haunting lies that threaten to tear it apart.

How would you describe your writing process for each of your novels?

I trust my instincts a lot while I'm writing. I usually start with a character voice and a rough premise. For instance, in My Last Kiss the main character, Cassidy, is a ghost and she can't remember how she died...or who's responsible. That's the premise that will hook the reader, but really it's Cassidy's voice that carries the story and told me what to write next while I was working on it. Cassidy's story was especially fun/heartbreaking to tell because I was learning the truth about her death right along side her. I didn't know the end until it happened, er, I mean I wrote it! 

If you could have written any novel throughout history which would you choose?

Ooo, great question! Probably The Virgin Suicides by Jeffery Eugenides. Or possible The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson. I am so jealous of that gorgeous book. 

Have you/would you ever write a novel with another author? If yes which author?

Totally. I'd love to have a partner to hand the work off to when I hit a mental block, or at the very least someone to commiserate with during the rigorous writing process. I'm not sure who I'd like to collaborate with though. Maybe R.L. Stine. I grew up on his Fear Street series and it would be a creeptastic honor to write along side him. 

Have you ever got any ideas for novels from TV shows?

I can't tell you how many times I've been watching TV, especially MTV's new scripted shows like Awkward, Faking It, and Finding Carter, and start yelling, "Why didn't I think of that?!!" I have "borrowed" small bits of ideas and scenes here and there from some of my old favs, but nothing recent. 

What are your favourite book events to attend?

My favorite events are YA panel discussions with multiple authors just because I love chatting about bookish things with bookish people. Plus, I think the audience has more fun at those. 

Where did you get inspiration for your novel My Last Kiss?

I got the idea for My Last Kiss while driving in my car. I was listening to a Metric song called 'Help, I'm Alive' and became fascinated with the concept of being alive as a problem and something that needed to be fix. 

If you could write a novel from another genre which genre would you choose to write a novel about?

I think it would be quite naughty fun to write what I call a chesty, which is a romance novel (because they almost always feature a picture of a man's bare chest on the cover). I'd be too embarrassed to promote it though, I think. 

Do you have any superstitious things you do each time you write a new novel (e.g. use the same pen, go to the same cafe, etc)?

I do pick a pen/pencil for each book based on the main character's nail polish colour. I do it more to get into her head than as a superstition though. I also consult my Yoda 8-ball when I have plot questions. 

Which authors novels do you enjoy reading the most?

I love all of A.S. King's YA novels and Megan Abbott, too. 

What are your future plans in terms of novels?

I have one very creepy YA novel that I wish I could tell you more about that's out with editors right now and another more realistic YA novel that is halfway completed. I'm crazy excited about both of them and I hope you'll get to read them soon!