Tag Archives: Crescent Moon Press

I Get Giggly and High School Poetic With Romance Writer Marne Ann Kirk PART I

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Yes friends, Romans, countrymen, this author and I had so much fun talking, I’m doing a two part series.  Today and tomorrow, me and Marne Ann Kirk.  Today is Part I.  I used a Roman numeral for one.  Because I’m classy like that.

And poetic.  This blog post has real like poetry on it.  You lucky people.

Marne Ann Kirk and I are both Crescent Moon Press writers and we wrote together one weekend, and I’ll never forget how stately she looked in a rumpled old chair, leaning back, typing on her computer. She looked positively regal. Me? I type. I rage. I type some more. I hate the words, like I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee. Helpless to stop, I pound more sentences down to spite the shattered pieces of my own misbegotten, hopeful genius. And Marne, stately, works.

At least that’s what I saw. But then, she is the Vice President of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, she has 9 brothers and 2 sisters, and she is raising a gaggle of her own kids. And she has dogs, including several puppies who get themselves into a variety of messes. With all of that going on, her serenity is humbling. As is her kindness. Am I eulogizing? Don’t let me eulogize. To learn more, and come up with high praise of your own, click here.

Marne has a series with Crescent Moon Press. The Fae Dragon Chronicles: Love Chosen is already out, and she has a paranormal romance set to launch this summer. We’ll talk about both. And Montana. And woodpiles. And how romantic fiction might have saved her life, though when she started writing, she wanted to write hardcore, thought-provoking literary fiction.

Here is the Amazon.com link for Love Chosen, not literary, but a fantasy romance. This is the skinny:

For millennia, dragon and fae have peacefully co-existed, but the fae themselves have lived segregated and very different lives. Now a malevolence threatens to separate them all permanently. Can a Queen’s guard and a rebellious outlaw join forces to defeat this common enemy?

So we talked, it was fun, and here it is:

AARON: So, Marne, tell us about the woodpile people in Montana. Everyone loves to hear stories about woodpile people.

Marne: True story: I was a weird child. I know, I know, so hard to believe, right? But, like most writers, my imagination began as this raging beast within my psyche, battling with the child I was for supreme control over my life. Luckily, I beat it back enough to fool others into believing I’m normal; but there for a while in my early development, it was touch and go. I was afraid of absolutely everything (and a few of my brothers might have preyed on those fears, just a titch).

When I was eight, I lived on a beautiful piece of land bordering the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Preserve in Montana. On this amazing property we lived what you might call a rustic life…I believe it would be more accurate, though, to say dirt had more monetary value than we did. Anyway, poor was an understatement. We lived in a run down, two-and-a-half bedroom, no bathroom, no electricity, no water or plumbing, cozy trailer home for seven, with one more on the way. At eight, though, I saw it as an adventure. Seriously, best camping trip EVER.

The only downside…I was afraid of the dark. And without electricity, it was a dark winter indeed. One of my chores was getting wood, but it seemed I always had to get it at night. Always. In the pitch black of the darkest night. And for the longest time, I remember standing against the trailer with my eyes scrunched shut, just praying my daddy would magically forget he needed that wood. I was pretty sure if the bears or mountain lions didn’t eat me, the deer and bunnies would (thanks to said brothers).

And then the woodpile people came to my rescue. At first there were two, a brother and sister, who convinced me to come over to the woodpile. They kept me company and performed silly antics while I got wood. If they had a problem, I’d help them resolve it. Once they trusted me, their parents came out of the woodpile to meet me; and as I gained their trust by solving issues or keeping secrets, they brought friends out to meet me until I had an entire small village of woodpile people, complete with a little mayor and officer, for friends.

Crazy, I know, but isn’t there a bit of crazy in us all? Please, Aaron, for the love of all I hold dear, say it’s so.

AARON: Okay, so in high school, I wrote bad suicide poetry. A lot of bad suicide poetry. You want a sample? No, I couldn’t…okay…if you insist…

Darkness lives like a beast in my soul,
Life has no happiness for a mongrel like me
I slip the razorblade under my flesh and bleed my truth:
I was never meant to live.

Hey, that was pretty good. Okay, my bad suicide poetry from high school had more angsty, less poetry.

Now, Marne, what kind of poems did you write in high school? And Marne, on the phone, we agreed, you’d give us a sample.

Marne: It’s kind of funny to me, how time distorts one’s memory. When we spoke, I told you I wrote poetry (very bad poetry, I might add) about nature and God, and not really angsty stuff at all… Boy, was I wrong. I pulled out an old journal and, lo and behold, I was a pretty typically angst-ridden kid. Ick. But I promised you some bad…er, I mean fantastic, amazing, poetry. So…

Raindrops
Tickle the tongue
Soft, tiny; slow drowning
Life, hanging by its perfection
Raindrops

That one wasn’t too angst-filled. And, because I actually like this one…

Tell me
Why do we die?
Just to make room for more?
Death mocks mankind’s every success.
Ironic

Why, yes… I do know they’re terrible. But I was a teenager. You should read the angsty stuff. Horrible. Depressing. And did I mention horrible? I hope fiction was the right path…

AARON: From your bio, you are child of the west. So am I. I was born with the soul of a coyote and a love for the wind. In Love Chosen, though, you include more exotic settings. However, in the sequel, you bring it all home. Tell us a little bit about how your life in the west has colored the settings of your novels.

Marne: “The soul of a coyote and a love for the wind,” I like that… Personally, I hate the wind—strong winds make me so cranky and I don’t know why (yet Delta has many wind-filled Spring days. Ick). I think I’ll put a horrific wind storm in the black moment of my next book. Thanks for the idea, Aaron!

Anyway, when it comes to setting, I write what I know or I write what I’d love to know about. First, to set things up a bit, I wrote LOVE CHOSEN, book one in the Fae Dragon Chronicles, after I wrote LOVE DARED, book two in the Fae Dragon Chronicles. Why? Because I wrote LOVE DARED as a stand-alone story and then realized there was so much more story I could tell, so I wrote LOVE CHOSEN.

So, we’ll start with LOVE DARED, which takes place in coniferous mountains, in desert canyon lands, in cliff-dwelling homes…all of these areas are places I’m intimately familiar with. I spent a great portion of my youth living on oil rigs with my family, all over the hills, plateaus, and canyons of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. We found cliff dwellings, old homesteads, caved-in mines, all kinds of amazing artifacts, and those things influence a young mind. I think this comes out in the imagery of LOVE DARED.

By the time I’d written LOVE CHOSEN, I’d had a chance to travel a bit more and I’d even seen an ocean or two. The internet had also become a much more significant resource. So I felt comfortable placing LOVE CHOSEN in a seaport kingdom. The funny thing about that, though, is the Ierocks mountain range separates the fae from the humans, and it is present in both books. Why? Because I guess I never got too far away from home after all… Ierocks= Rockies…

Just to be clear, it’s like a love\hate thing with the wind.  But thanks Marne.  Part I ends here, but part II begins tomorrow!  It’s all Marne, all week! Or at least Thursday and Friday.

Talk to you cats tomorrow.

I Get Tasteful and Totally International With YA Paranormal Romance Author Kate Evangelista

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Now, I first met Kate Evangelista when she was looking for writers for her blog – she had this cool idea of writing first pages based on a picture, a writing prompt, and so I jumped into that and wrote a dark little story about a girl and her drunk-zombie-stepfather. Click here.

Little did I know that my fellow Crescent Moon Press writer, Kate Evangelista, was from the Philippines! And she knew the Book Whale YA Reviewer girls who first reviewed The Never Prayer! They weren’t so hot on my book, but they loved Taste!

 

Kate and I chatted across Skype and it was so exciting to be talking to someone on the other side of the world! You can read more about Kate here, but suffice to say, she is a former medical school student, accomplished literature student, and now a full-time writer.

Her book, Taste, has just come out from Crescent Moon Press, but she has three other books in the works from two other publishers. She is the real deal. A little about Taste:

At Barinkoff Academy, there’s only one rule: no students on campus after curfew. Phoenix McKay soon finds out why when she is left behind at sunset. A group calling themselves night students threaten to taste her flesh until she is saved by a mysterious, alluring boy. With his pale skin, dark eyes, and mesmerizing voice, Demitri is both irresistible and impenetrable. He warns her to stay away from his dangerous world of flesh eaters. Unfortunately, the gorgeous and playful Luka has other plans.

Kate and I transcended time and space and hotel internet problems to talk. This is a little of what we talked about.

Aaron: Kate, Taste takes place at a boarding school. My own daughter loved school so much, she used to say she wished she lived there. She either loved school, or hated her home life, I’m not sure which. But things are better now. Back to the question. Would you have liked to live at a boarding school? Why or why not?

Kate: Living in a boarding school sounds like a fantastic idea at first thought, but I believe it has its drawbacks. If you are generally liked by everybody, then boarding school might not be so bad. But can you imagine if you were being bullied? High school is hard enough. At least you have the option of going home. At a boarding school, you essentially live in a box with everyone else, so there’s really no way to escape the people you don’t like. Then again, that’s me. I was bullied extensively, so I have mixed feelings about high school. Also, there aren’t that many boarding schools here in the tropics. We’re mostly private and public schools.

Aaron: So, in the Philippines there is a vibrant writing community. People are writing, meeting in critique groups, talking about writing. But you said much of the writing is targeted to a specific audience. Tell us a little bit more of the “agenda” a lot of writers have in the Philippines.

Kate: Not all writers have an agenda when they write. I think it’s more political here: you need to “say” something when you write. But I also believe there are many writing circles who write to be creative and free, without the constraints of politics. I live in the mountains, far away from any writing circles, so even if I wanted to join any, I don’t really have that kind of access, short of driving an hour each way and paying exorbitant toll fees and gas prices.

Aaron: You were surprised that people are finding that Taste does have an agenda, a secret, magic, hidden agenda. What are people saying and did you at all have such things in mind as you were working on the book?

Kate: *thinks* Well, when I write, the process is more like my characters telling me their stories and I type them. Yes, glorified typist. So, agendas aren’t in the picture for me. Maybe my characters have agendas and I just don’t know it yet. But readers have come forward saying Taste looks at the consequences of putting chemicals into our bodies. During the writing, it didn’t even occur to me, but now that readers are pointing it out, I’m surprised.

Aaron: To get where you are now, you went to medical school, but wound up studying literature and creative writing. How did your parents handle the whole “our daughter wants to starve on the streets of Manila” situation?

Kate: Like any parent, they worried. *laughs* I think they still do. Once one becomes a parent, I believe the worry quotient multiplies exponentially. When I said I was shifting from medical school to literature, my parents were right to worry. At the time, I was leaving what could have been a potentially lucrative career to study how to read books, which is what learning literature really is. I started off as a teacher, which earned a reasonable salary, but at the end of the day, checking papers day in and day out wasn’t for me. It took me three jobs and the better part of five years to finally realize I wanted to be a writer. This added several white hairs to my parents’ head, let me tell you. But they supported me. Today, they couldn’t be prouder of what I’ve accomplished in such a short amount of time. In short, I love them!

Aaron: You said something interesting about what stops people from writing. You said in the publishing game you have to be patient—you have to learn to wait. Out of your three main characters, Phoenix McKay, Demitri, and Luka, who is the most patient? Who is the least patient? Who are you most like?

Kate: I love that question! And yes, lots of waiting to be done while walking the road not taken. As for the most patient, I think that would be Luka. Demitri is too controlling to be patient. Well, unless everything goes his way. Can you just imagine if it doesn’t? As for the least patient, that would be Phoenix. She’s curious to the point of recklessness. She wants answers and she wants them yesterday. When I was younger, I would have to say I was more like Phoenix. I was impulsive and wanted to see results right away. In some cases, I’m still like that. I have the tendency to get restless. But, in more ways, I’ve learned to sit and wait, maybe read a book or write a book while I’m at it. 🙂

Aaron: The Book Whale YA Reviewers only gave me two whales. Only two. Dang. But this interview isn’t about me. Well, it is, but let’s focus on you for a little longer before I have to go look in the mirror. I need my mirror time. How are you handling the whole review/reviewer drama with your debut novel?

Kate: *laughs* then *shakes head* Won’t dream of getting in the way of you and your mirror. *smiles* As for the reviews, I’m learning something new every day. Reviews are important in letting people know your book is out there, willing and waiting to be read. So far, I haven’t encountered any vitriol for Taste. But as good as that sounds, it shows me that my marketing isn’t effective enough. *aura burning* Must work harder in getting Taste out there.

Aaron: You are trilingual. Tell us about your languages, your writing, and what it’s like with all those words and languages floating around your brain. For example, do you think in Tagalog and then write in English?

Kate: I think I have the opposite affliction. I think in English and write in English. I can speak Filipino, as we refer to it here to be PC, but good luck in getting me to read or write properly in it. As for Kapangpangan, which is a local dialect that my parents speak fluently, I understand it fluently and can speak some words. But, at the end of the day, it’s all about having very little practice in Kapangpangan that hinders me from being fluent at it. So, it’s mostly thinking and writing in English for me.

Aaron: Last question. If they were to take your novel, Taste, and turn it into a religion, what would the underpinnings of that religion be? This is kind of like the agenda question, only turned on its head and slapped around a little. Or do you think basing a religion on Taste would be completely impossible?

Kate: Last question already? And it’s a big one too! *crosses arms and thinks* Hmmm, if Taste were to be a religion…I’m never one to believe in the impossible, so if someone had enough time and wherewithal to make Taste into a religion, I think he or she can. And then my brain would proceed to explode because Taste has become big enough to have spawned a religion.

I want to take this time to thank Aaron for letting me crash on his virtual blogging couch for this interview. I had fun. And that Skype conversation needs to happen again. Too much hilarity, even early in the morning. Thank goodness my camera wasn’t working. Would have given you a fright. Also, thank you to the readers who’ve taken the time to read this interview. You rock!

Thanks you, Kate!  Had a great time.  And for the readers and rockers out there, below is veritable cornucopia of links for more Kate Evangelista!

 

Buy Taste on Amazon
Kate’s Facebook page
Kate on Goodreads
Book trailer and preview on Jess Resides Here
Kate on Twitter
Read an excerpt from Impulse

I Lose My Skin and Glow Indigo with Paranormal Romance Author Joanne Brothwell

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I met Joanne Brothwell in person at the RT Book Lovers Conference and it was epic, epic I tell you! We rocked the bar, we rocked the dance floor, and she rocks the writing, rocks the writing right. And she’s from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Can you hear the wind blowing? I live in Colorado. The wind always blows, so you’ll have to let me know.

Joanne is a fellow Crescent Moon Press writer, and her book Stealing Breath just came out. Skinwalkers, love, and Indigo children. Here’s a quick synopsis:

 

Deep in the backwoods of North Dakota, twenty–one-year-old Sarah Ross is searching for a missing child when she is attacked by a glowing–eyed, transparent…creature. Sarah survives, destroying the monster by using mysterious abilities she didn’t even know she had.
Sarah meets the enigmatic Evan and the drama deepens into magic. Pure magic.

 

Joanne agreed to chat with me and it was wonderful! I generally only make writers suffer through 20 minutes of conversation, but with Joanne we went over.

Aaron: My first question: why set the story in North Dakota and not in Saskatchewan? The answer will shock you! Joanne, let us in on the shocking secret!

Joanne: Well, as a writer based in Canada, I wanted to have wider appeal than just Canadians. But to tap into the US market, I was told in no uncertain terms, that Americans do not like to read about anything but America *ducks*. I’m sorry, I can’t say whether that is true or not, but I also wasn’t about to challenge it and find out it was true the hard way. So I wrote about North Dakota, which I believe is the most similar, geographically, to Saskatchewan.

Aaron: So I’m always asking writers when they started writing. We have both extremes. Some started writing fifteen minutes ago, others were scribbling in the womb. With Joanne, her story was different. She started writing when she wrote her father’s memoirs. Joanne, how was that experience?

Joanne: It was both challenging and rewarding. In terms of challenge, I had to wade through hours and hours of audiotapes my father made for me and transcribe them. This was fun at first, listening to his fabulous stories of prairie life in the 50’s, but there were so many words and expressions he used that I was unfamiliar with, I was constantly having to rewind and listen over again.

In terms of the process being rewarding, I now have all of my father’s stories, forever captured in a book that will be enjoyed by me and my family for years to come.

Aaron: How was writing your father’s memoir similar to writing fiction?

Joanne: It was nothing like fiction. It could have been, if I’d attempted to find a theme, highlight a character arc, etc. But that wasn’t the goal. The memoir was transcribed nearly verbatim from his audiotape, because I simply wanted to ensure my father’s memories were preserved.

Aaron: I loved your story about the inspiration for Stealing Breath. Tell us how it all started! How did the Skinwalkers tie in with the Indigo children?

Joanne: One of my friends, an Indigenous Canadian, told me a story of a time she was on a road trip in the US. It was the middle of the night and she was growing too tired to continue driving, so she pulled her car over to the side of the road, somewhere in Arizona near the “four corners” (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah). She planned to have a nap, but was startled awake when her car started rocking as if someone was jumping on her car, their mocking laughter outside sending shivers up her back. Quite abruptly it stopped, and when she spoke to some of her Navajo relatives later, they said these tricksters were Skinwalkers, people who practiced “Bad Medicine” and could perform astral-projection!

How does Skinwalkers tie in with Indigo Children? About four years ago I had this story idea of a spiritually-evolved human, based on the New Age concept of the “Indigo Child.” This person would be spiritually closer to God, with psychic abilities and a purple/blue aura. This concept came long before the Skinwalker story. But after the Skinwalker story, I began to think— if Skinwalkers can walk outside of their skin, can they walk inside the skin of another? If yes, can they steal the souls of their victims? If they can steal souls, wouldn’t they want a special purple/blue one that’s closer to God?

Aaron: Saskatoon has a population of around 272,000. Give or a take a hockey player. Saskatoon. That’s just fun to say. All of you people at home, say it out loud to yourselves. You’ll thank me. But Joanne, you didn’t grow up in Saskatoon, but in a small, rural town. Your novel also takes place in a small town. Are you afraid that someone from your burg will come out and say, “Hey Joanne, eh, I read your book. How come I’m not in it?” Or will you accidentally out someone? “The mean guy in the store has a facial scar, and Carl Masterson has the same scar. That Joanne is telling stories out of school.” Any danger of that happening?

Joanne: I have two words for you, Aaron: plausible deniability.
Just kidding! Without a doubt, the setting of the novel is based on my home town. Heck, I even admitted as much to the local newspaper! However, I don’t think anyone would say they see themselves in the book. If they did, it would certainly be news to me.

Aaron: Okay, Joanne, first time you were ever really critiqued – what was your reaction – what happened? Describe, in detail, the blood, sweat and tears.

Joanne: The first time was after I’d paid for a manuscript evaluation. I got it back in the mail and it took a long time to muster up the courage to open it. It was about four pages long, with approximately three sentences highlighting the manuscript strengths. The rest was solid criticism. Too much telling. Too many adjectives and adverbs, improper grammar, no story structure. The negatives went on and on.

I felt positively sick. I can honestly say, I’ve never felt so deflated and mortified in my entire life. It was a good thing the critique was done by someone anonymous, because I’m certain their Inbox would have been filled with hate mail.

I took a short break from writing after that, to decide whether I even wanted to continue. If it wasn’t for the fact that I had a 100,000 word manuscript already written, I may have quit. But I felt like I’d already invested too much time and energy to give it up. So I picked myself up, licked my wounds, and got right back on the saddle.

Aaron: Last question, so we have to make it a good one. Without giving anything away, what is your favorite moment in the book? The moment that sums up the emotional experience of writing the novel and spending three years working on it. March 8, 2009 to March 8, 2012. Hit me, baby, one more time.

Joanne: There is a seduction scene about a quarter of the way in that I’m very proud of, where Sarah and Evan are playing pool in the town bar. It’s a hot and steamy moment that showcases the wonderful euphoric feeling of intense infatuation. In real life, those moments cause a cascade of powerful brain chemicals, the highly addictive ones we all crave. After getting the characters all hot and bothered, I finish the scene off with a big bang. Literally!

That pretty much sums up Stealing Breath:

Infatuation + Supernatural = Flash/Bang.

Check out Joanne’s website
Joanne’s Crescent Moon Press page
Her Facebook fan page
Follow her on twitter
Her books on Kindle

Thank you, Joanne! Your awesomeness transcends all international borders!