Author Interview~Judith Graves

Today for the Channeler's Choice tour I'm over at author Judith Graves' site, and author Christine Fonseca's site. I hope you'll stop by and say hi. Now on to the fun!

I'm so excited for Second Skin! As you know I've been eagerly waiting for it since I finished book 1, Under My Skin, last year. Thank you so much for joining us to celebrate it's release!

Judith: Aww…thanks, Heather! You’ve been such a great support over the last few years and are a model of how authors helping authors should be our focus – as it’s our strength.

She's humble and sweet. You've got to love that peeps! From the way Under My Skin ends, I'm guessing Eryn comes into her own a bit more in Second Skin. Can you tell us what the most difficult part of writing book 2 was?

Judith: Eryn steps up to the plate in Second Skin, she doesn’t have much choice if she wants to save the souls of the humans residing in Redgrave. The creature of the week, a night mare / ancient dream demon comes a calling and feeds off fear – what better place to attack than the insecurity riddled halls of Redgrave High?

Deciding exactly how I wanted to format the dream sequences was the most challenging aspect of writing Second Skin. The opening scene – one of Eryn’s nightmares - is set in italics. Yet when I progressed with the tale I realized I couldn’t keep distinguishing dreams this way as I wanted the reader to be sucked into the dream realm with Eryn. The goal was for the reader to question what was actually occurring and what were horrific fabrications. In order to do that, I had to lose the convenience of italics and rely on my storytelling skills (such as they are…lol…) to convey reality or dream, as well as Eryn’s decreasing ability to tell the difference.

A dream realm, this sounds intriguing! With two hot boys like Alec and Wade vying for her attention I can't imagine how Eryn will ever choose. What was it like to write about such complex relationships?

Judith: Alec and Wade act as physical manifestations of Eryn’s dual nature. Alec – human, of the Earth, solid and of the light. Wade – inhuman, of the Unknown, unstable, and of the dark. The more she discovers about herself, the more she is drawn to one or the other. The endgame of their triangle may come down to a simple question - will she choose good over evil? But what Eryn is really asking of herself is what kind of creature will SHE become? Good? Evil?

She’s discovering life isn’t so black and white - the villain can be heroic, and vise versa. That knowledge leaves the field wide open.

That kind of gives me the shivers. Truth time, team Alec or team Wade (I'm totally team Alec)?

Judith: Lol…no spoilers here! Although I will hint there may be a latecomer to the race for Eryn’s heart. You’ll have to read Second Skin to see how that plays out.

Such a tease! What do you have in store for us after Second Skin?

Judith: Skin of My Teeth, the third book in the SKINNED series, is due out at the end of 2013 and the fourth book, Hour of the Wolf is in the works. I’m also thrilled to announce a rather daring publication experiment. Leap Books is releasing (ETA 2014) the first novel of my steampunk, ghosthunter series, STRANGEWAYS, as a six part e-serial – a new episode published every two months. Each episode of the novel, Strangeways Versus The Blood Brothers, will be compiled into a single paperback at the end of the year.

This is an exciting concept as the steampunk genre mixes Victorian settings and alternate histories with science fiction/fantasy elements – and in my series – the paranormal to boot. ;)

You can check out the introductory tale to STRANGEWAYS, Strangeways Versus The Wraith in the SPIRITED anthology, a collection of thirteen ghost stories told by authors the likes of Maria V. Snyder, Candace Havens, Shannon Delany, Kitty Keswick, Dawn Dalton, Halli Dee Lilburn, and more!

Proceeds from SPIRITED go to 826 National, a literacy-based charity.

Here’s the trailer.
 

Oh wow, that is some trailer! And four books as well as another series?! I'm pumped now! Any closing thoughts?

Judith: Thanks for hanging with me! Don’t forget to drop by my blog to read the answers Heather provided for my interview with HER.

Comments

  1. That is one scary cover. *shivers*

    These books sound like something my high school students would love--I'll have to check them out. :)

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    1. They definitely would! Judith has a very engaging writing style.

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  2. They say you can't judge a book by its cover, but oh wow! I think when everyone reads this story they will say... yes you can! Awesome look for an incredible book! Best of luck with it!

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    Replies
    1. It is definitely eye-catching isn't it? I can hardly wait to read it!

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  3. That cover, like Karlene says, is awesome. As was your interview, Heater! Roland

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  4. Great interview!

    I like the idea of the villain and hero switching places.

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  5. Glad you like the cover, guys. I requested blood for the UMS cover and got three drops. For SS - hit the jackpot. :)

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  6. So, another two books for my list :-)

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