Kristin Jacques's Blog

Introduction

Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! This bi-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors…and a chance to win some awesome prizes! On this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one book from each author on the hunt in my team! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 120 hours!

Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are THREE contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the RED TEAM–but there is also a blue team, and a purple team for a chance to win a whole different set of books!

If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.

SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE

Directions: Below, you’ll notice that I’ve listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the red team, and then add them up (don’t worry, you can use a calculator!). 
Entry Form: Once you’ve added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.
Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by OCTOBER 4TH, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

SCAVENGER HUNT POST

Today I am hosting Danielle Paige on my website for the YA Scavenger Hunt!

Danielle Paige is the New York Times bestselling author of the Dorothy Must Die series, the Stealing Snow series, the graphic novel MERA Tidebreaker, the soon to be released Betty Cooper: Superteen comic, and the upcoming novel The Ravens with Kass Morgan. In addition to writing young adult books, she works in the television industry, where she’s received a Writers Guild of America Award and was nominated for several Daytime Emmys. She is a graduate of Columbia University and currently lives in New York City.

Find out more information by checking out the author website or find more about the author’s book here!

EXCLUSIVE CONTENT

At first glance, the sisters of ultra-exclusive Kappa Rho Nu—the Ravens—seem like typical sorority girls. Ambitious, beautiful, and smart, they’re the most powerful girls on Westerly College’s Savannah, Georgia, campus.

But the Ravens aren’t just regular sorority girls. They’re witches.

Scarlett Winter has always known she’s a witch—and she’s determined to be the sorority’s president, just like her mother and sister before her. But if a painful secret from her past ever comes to light, she could lose absolutely everything . . .

Vivi Devereaux has no idea she’s a witch and she’s never lived in one place long enough to make a friend. So when she gets a coveted bid to pledge the Ravens, she vows to do whatever it takes to be part of the magical sisterhood. The only thing standing in her way is Scarlett, who doesn’t think Vivi is Ravens material.

But when a dark power rises on campus, the girls will have to put their rivalry aside to save their fellow sisters. Someone has discovered the Ravens’ secret. And that someone will do anything to see these witches burn . . .

Inspired by the Witch Tarot Deck!

And don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of books by me, Kristin Jacques, and many more fabulous authors! To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is:

 Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the Red team and you’ll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!

CONTINUE THE HUNT

To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need to check out the next author HERE

Still Here?

Enter my personal Rafflecopter for a chance to win a paperback of the award winning Marrow Charm & a $10 Amazon Gift Card.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ah what a long strange spiral this year has been. Here we are at long last into the long summer months. Up here in ye old Connecticut, things have settled enough for us to attempt such activities as summer camp and in person extended school year with tons of provisions. We are hanging in there and adjusting to another wildly different schedule. But it’s cool. We totally got a handle on this pandemic thing…

Now onto business!

I still find myself knee deep in edits. The edits will never end. I will be editing until I die. On the upside, some fun stuff kicks off next week. Or is already happening because I am appallingly bad at updating

It’s been a while since I managed to update the bloggo.

The Covid pandemic has created some strange times. It’s odd here, because things have drastically changed while remaining the same? My hubs still goes to work every day at the post office, but the kiddos are home so the drag and drain on time and energy has increased tenfold.

But, we keep on keeping on! My kids are healthy. We are healthy. We have a roof over our heads. We have food on the table. Things are exhausting, we are hanging in there.

SO what have I been up to aside from homeschooling my hooligans? I’ve chosen my mentee for #Writementor, who I am super excited to work with. (Thank you Cade for trusting me with your smol book child.)

I’ve started a new gig as the Blog Maven of Sword & Silk Books, an undertaking near and dear to my heart. After hitting goal with their kickstarter, they are in the process of kicking things into gear, setting up our infrastructure, and I am so excited to be along for the ride. I really love taking what I’ve learned and lived in the industry and applying it on a level that helps authors achieve their dreams, whether they are in house or not. The S & S blog currently posts Wed & Fri and I’ve only had mild panic attacks each time! Seriously, though, come check it out. We talk shop and get our book nerd on every week. –> https://www.swordandsilkbooks.com/blog

I’ve been banging my head on book 2 of the Gate Cycle. Sequels are so hard. I had such a mental picture of book 1 and book 3 but I knew molding book 2 into the shape I want/need it to be was going to be a challenge, but quarantine upped the difficulty about 400%. There have been ups and downs and doubts, but it’s slowly coming together. Yesterday I had an epiphany over an editorial suggestion while doing the dishes. We find inspiration at odd moments.

Edits for my chaotic bisexual vampire and confused cinnamon roll of a vampire hunter will hit my inbox soon. This is another series I am excited to work on.

I am trying to find my joy to write again. This quarantine, aside from edits, edits, edits, I haven’t produced much in the way of new content. My goal for May/June is to fix that. There are some things I am quietly tinkering away on. Will update soon.

Now for some fun stuff! I am currently participating in Michelle A. Bailey’s Spring Bookbub Builder Giveaway! The grand prize is a $300 Amazon gift card. Bookbub, if you haven’t heard of it, an a rather awesome site that keeps readers informed of discounts, sales, and freebies in their favorite genres, as well as new releases from their fav authors. I swear by it as an author and reader. Bookbub has kept my kindle well stuffed for the last couple years.

Drop in here to enter for a chance to win and find some new favorite authors to boot!

It’s that time again!

Welcome to my leg of the YA Scavenger Hunt!

About the Hunt:

This bi-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors…and a chance to win some awesome prizes! On this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one book from each author on the hunt in my team!But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 120 hours!

Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are FOUR contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the Red Team–but there is also a gold team, a purple team, and a blue team for a chance to win a whole different set of books!

If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.

How to Play:

Directions: Below, you’ll notice that I’ve listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the red team, and then add them up (don’t worry, you can use a calculator!). 
Entry Form: Once you’ve added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.
Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by Sunday, APRIL 5th, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

Scavenger Hunt Post



Elizabeth Langston

Today I am hosting Elizabeth Langston on my website for the YA Scavenger Hunt.

Elizabeth Langston is an award-winning author of two YA magical realism romance series. She lives in North Carolina (USA), halfway between the beaches and the mountains, along with two twenty-something daughters, one old husband, and too many computers to count. When she’s not writing software or stories, she’s traveling to distant places or baking something she probably shouldn’t eat. Elizabeth also writes YA contemporary romance as Julia Day.

Find out more information by checking out the author website or find more about the author’s book here!











About the Book

What she needs is a miracle. What she gets is a genie with rules…

Lacey Linden has gotten good at hiding the truth of her life—a depressed mom, a crumbling house, and bills too big to pay. In school, she’s a girl with a ready smile and good grades, but at night, Lacey spends her time dreaming up ways to save her family. On a get-cash-quick trip to the flea market, Lacey stumbles over a music box that seemingly begs her to take it home. She does, only to find that it’s inhabited by a gorgeous “genie.” He offers her a month of wishes, one per day, but there’s a catch. Each wish must be humanly possible.

Grant belongs to a league of supernatural beings, dedicated to serving humans in need. After two years of fulfilling conventional wishes, he’s one assignment away from promotion to a new job with more challenging cases. His month with Lacey is exactly what he expects and nothing like he imagines. Lacey and Grant soon discover that the hardest task of all might be saying goodbye.

Exclusive Content

I don’t create a playlist for a book while I’m writing it. I prefer to wait until the book is done, and I can think back through the characters and how their stories unfolded. For my exclusive content, I’ve created this playlist of songs that remind me of the heroine, Lacey, and the relationships that change her in I Wish.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole : At the beginning of the book, Lacey feels exhausted, scared, and isolated (not unlike many of us are experiencing around the world today). This is a song I would prescribe for her so she can remember not to give up hope.

“Rather Be” by Clean Bandit : Lacey adores her 8-year-old brother, and he adores her back. Unfortunately (in her opinion) he plays soccer, which she doesn’t adore. But even though the costs for him to play are straining the family budget, she shows up at every game–his biggest fan.

“Reasons I Drink” by Alanis Morrisette : Crystal, mother to Lacey and Henry, has fallen into a period of deep sadness and depression. Her inability to function forces Lacey to be the adult and to miss out on the best parts of her senior year. Crystal knows it’s not fair to her daughter, but she can’t simply think her way out of depression. (Although Crystal is not an alcoholic,) “Reasons I Drink” nails the pain and despair of her mental illness.
It’s Nice to Have a Friend by Taylor Swift : Lacey no longer has the time to spare for friends. But the new girl at the high school, Kimberley, is too persistent to accept the word no. It’s Nice to Have a Friend is a sweet song to describe how much Lacey needs her new friend.

The Bones by Maren Morris : Lacey and Eli have gone to the same high school for years, and they’ve always been friendly. But now that he’s her brother’s soccer coach, they’re bonding over vintage Mustangs and Shakespearean sonnets and Henry.

“Break In” by Halestorm: When Grant (the “genie”) arrives, he’s shocked by how desperately Lacey and her family need their month of wishes. He begins the book a bit overly focused on rules, so it takes time for him to relax–and for her to trust. But eventually, they’re ready to let each other break in.

Silent Night by Pentatonix : On the book’s cover is a music box. Since the book ends on Christmas Day, “Silent Night” is the song that plays when the music box is opened. Here’s one of my favorite versions.

Let It Be by The Beatles : While life isn’t perfect for Lacey by the end of the story, she completely believes that it will get better. With all that’s happening right now in the world, I’m going to end the playlist the way it began…with a song about hope.

You can also fine Elizabeth on Twitter and Facebook

Before you Go

Don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of books, including one from me. Check out my host’s post over at R.J. Garcia! To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is

 .

 Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the red team and you’ll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!

Continue the Hunt!

To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need to check out the next author: Katie Delahanty!

Still here? Good, here is my exclusive giveaway!

I am hosting my own giveaway for an extra chance to win stuff! I will be giving away another chance to snap up a copy of the Marrow Charm ebook AND a $10 e-gift card to Amazon or Barnes & Noble .

A Free Entry option is available to enter in each day the giveaway is live. Open today, March 31st to April 6th 12 AM EST.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

These be wild times! However, the glory of the internet allows us to still do some pretty great stuff. That includes #Writermentor!

Greetings potential mentees! I hope you are ready as I am to embark on a spring and summer writing adventure.

Tidbits about me

I live in the suburban wastelands of Connecticut, on the No Man’s Land eastern half of the state, where the Starbucks are few and far between and the weekend gamblers roam the highways, looking for slot machines. Everything smells of nutmeg. All hail the spice.
My sense of humor is on the weird and dark side.
I have two kiddos on spectrum, and two trash goblins masquerading as cats. I spend a lot of time reading, juggling a never ending to do list, and stalking the elusive nap.
To date, I have written several short pieces for various anthologies, serialized fiction, and this past year I published two novels; Ragnarok Unwound, an offbeat comic mythological mashup, and Marrow Charm, a dark, twisty YA Fantasy.
This year, I signed a historical paranormal mannerpunk series with City Owl Press.
You can usually find me on the Tweeter or hearting all the bookish posts on Instagram.
Now onto serious business!

My Wish List

This year, I am taking on YA. While I love MG, I feel I can offer a better set of editing skills to a YA novel than a MG novel.

The Wide Speculative Fiction Umbrella: I am open to Fantasy, Science Fiction, Paranormal, Horror, and every subgenre in between.
Bring your fantastical, magical worlds, galaxies, and dimensions. I am very open to the quirk, the weird, and the offbeat. From Lovecraftian horror, to Pratchett-esque fantastical, and Stranger Things sci fi, send it my way. If you have a wild west story with Fairies and Dragons, or a historical ghost story with portals to 28th Century Europe, I am here for it. Where we’re going, we don’t need roads: Not only am I open to the great spectrum of time periods, I am also open to time travel, especially through unconventional means. If you give me a well tread trope with a fresh twist, I will be all over it like leftover birthday cake. Oh no, there is only one bed at the inn: Speaking of Tropes, romance is not a deal breaker for me, be it the focus of your story, or the subplot, but, if your romantic element is a subplot or main focus, it must make sense in the confines of the story. Open to LGBTQ! The Shoe Doesn’t Fit: What I am NOT a good fit for: General Contemporary, Love Triangles, machismo plots, abuse/ self harm plot-lines, Smut in disguise (I love smut, but if your story has a deluge of sexy scenes, it probably shouldn’t be YA), Rape/ Rape as empowerment.








My Mentoring Style

I believe in a combination of constructive criticism and complimentary comments. I will absolutely tell you what is working in your piece, and where it needs improvement. If you are my mentee, I 100% believe in your work and I want to help you make your story as ready to rumble as possible.
I will work through to 2 to 3 rounds of edits with you, depending on your comfort level with your story. I will help you tackle everything from plot cohesion to character development. I have an eye for fine detail and will help you create a strong, consistent piece.
I am open to communication via email and phone, and I have a personal discord set up for more immediate conversation.
Good luck, potentials! I look forward to reading your manuscript!

Are you submitting to #WriteMentor?

Leave me a comment below! Here is the General FYI:

Applications open on the 15th and remain open until 11.59pm GMT on 17th April.
– You will need to have a completed manuscript.
– You will need to send us a query letter, 1st chapter (double-spaced, 12″ TNR), and 1-page synopsis (single-spaced) along with your application, so ensure these are as good as they can be. The first chapter should be no more than 3,000 words.
– For Picture Books, please send the full text. Illustrations are not needed, but illustrator notes are fine.
– You can apply to 3 mentors. So be sure to research them thoroughly and chat to them during our Twitter Mentor chat week, starting 6th April.
– It is 1 application (1 novel) per person.

Welcome to this leg of the Filles Vertes Publishing MASKS blog hop!
If you somehow landed on this page and haven’t heard about the blog hop, click here
If you haven’t already, add MASKS to your Goodreads TBR here

Also, pre-orders are available at FVPub.com, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, or your fave bookseller. Convenient links are listed below:

Filles Vertes Publishing

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Book Depository

Enjoy
this entertaining glimpse of one of the intriguing stories awaiting you in
MASKS. Remember to look for the keyword/phrase and take a note of it!

Happy Hopping!

Ah Mardi Gras! The colors, the sounds, the smells of this modern spectacle of debauchery can’t be found anywhere else. Not with the bombastic flare of the Big Easy. Mardi Gras might take its roots from medieval European festivals in Venice and Rome, but New Orleans has transformed Fat Tuesday into something else.

Fat Tuesday is a time of feasting, of last hurrah excess before the sacrifices of Lent. Where even the dead can taste the smoke of barbecue and bourbon. Where the spirits dance with –>USamid flashes of purple, green, and gold….

My anthology piece, Roll the Bones, features siblings tried and tested by tragedy.

Annoyed to be missing the biggest party of the year on baby-sitting duty, Josh convinces his younger sister to join him in Mardi Gras celebration. But when she is abducted by a spirit, Josh must brave the malevolent entities of another realm to bring his sister home, if he can convince her to come back at all. 

Excerpt of Roll The Bones

As strains of laughter and music filtered through the window screens, Josh glanced over at his sister with no small amount of loathing. The biggest party in the state was happening right outside, one his parents had promised he could attend once he hit senior year, and here he was, stuck on babysitting duty.
“You can stop glaring,” said the object of his ire as she calmly turned the page of her book. “I don’t like this any more than you do.” Despite her objections, he stared at her another minute as she read, just to make her uncomfortable. What twelve-year-old read Lord of the Rings while the song of Mardi Gras filtered through their open kitchen windows?
Josh sneered at the sweaty can of Pepsi in his hand, the chilled, syrupy beverage a small relief against the overbearing heat in their apartment. The air conditioner had finally kicked the bucket last week, and rather than buy a new one, their dad kept saying he’d fix it. Josh snorted at the thought. Their father rarely took a day off, and he was pulling a double tonight. He’d only come home long enough to change into a fresh uniform.
The man himself strode into the room, affixing his badge to his shirt front. His radio was already active, emitting sporadic squawks amid the tinny voice of the dispatcher relaying messages to the on-duty officers keeping the peace tonight.
“Make sure she gets to bed at a decent hour,” their father said to Josh via the mirror, checking his son’s reflection for a response. “If you don’t, she’ll stay up all night reading.”
“Least I’m not doing drugs,” said Helene.

Did you catch the Keyword embedded in the text? (Hint, hint, it was ‘US’) Be sure to collect them all and enter to win a mighty fine prize package







Next Up!
Myra Fiacco presents about her story: Ashes, Ashes



Click on the stop number below



Blog Stop: #11

Oh hai! I am Kristin Jacques, your hostess with the mostess for this leg of the scavenger hunt!

A little bit about me:



I have an addiction to rice krispy treats (honestly who doesn’t) When I’m not writing, or reading, I am practicing my favorite hobby of Netflixing. I own two rescue cats. One of them is gloriously chonk. Believe it or not, this is not my natural hair color. Shocking, I know.



A little bit of background before we start:

Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! This bi-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors…and a chance to win some awesome prizes! On this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one book from each author on the hunt in my team!But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 120 hours!

You are currently scavenging with #TeamGold. Looking for my bonus goodies? Keep going! Somewhere in this hunt, I’ve hidden a free bonus story set in the Marrow Charm world, as well as a few other little goodies to set the mood. In the meantime check out this awesome author I am hosting!

But first a few rules:

Directions: Below, you’ll notice that I’ve listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the gold team, and then add them up (don’t worry, you can use a calculator!). 
Entry Form: Once you’ve added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.
Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by Sunday, Oct 6th, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are FOUR contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the GOLD TEAM–but there is also a red team, a blue team, and a purple team for a chance to win a whole different set of books!

If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.

Now, onto the good stuff!

This hunt I am hosting:



Helen Vivienne Fletcher







About Helen:

Helen Vivienne Fletcher is a children’s and young adult author, spoken word poet and award-winning playwright. She is the author of a number of books for young people, including Broken Silence, which was a finalist for the Ngaio Marsh Best First Book Awards. She discovered her passion for writing for young people while working as a youth support worker, and now helps children find their own passion for storytelling through her work as a creative writing tutor. Overall Helen just loves telling stories and is always excited when people want to read or hear them.

The book she is show-casing this hunt is:

About the book:

Myra fell from the trapeze, and then she fell in love. Which one will hurt her the most?
Something is not right at the circus. Since Myra’s accident, there have been an unexplainable number of falls, and a strange, hot wind whispering through the tents.
Then, a new fortune teller arrives.
Myra meets Giselle, the beautiful, blind, child fortune teller, who often speaks of spirits in a way which may or may not be a joke. Myra finds herself drawn to her, despite the fact that she doesn’t believe in psychics.
When someone she cares about becomes the next victim of the falls, Myra must face the unnatural cause behind them. Will Myra be able to save the people she loves, or will she be the next one to drop?

Bonus Material:

Hi everyone, I hope you’re all having a great time making your way through the maze of authors to find those secret numbers. I’m super excited to be participating in YASH this year If you’ve not come across my books before, I write in a few genres, but I particular like writing dark twisty stories, especially suspense – real world and fantasy.

I love listening to music while I’m writing, and that’s what my bonus content is about. I’ve created a special playlist to go with my book We All Fall. 

We All Fall is a creepy supernatural story set in a circus. These are all songs I thought fit the story well, and had the perfect melancholic but romantic vibe to them. It’s kind of what I think the soundtrack would be, if it were a movie. Whether you’ve read We All Fall or not, there’s some great tunes in there, so have a listen as you carry on with the hunt. Enjoy!

Press Play for Playlist

Interested in the book? You can find it here: https://books2read.com/u/mqGy0v

Or connect with Helen on social media:
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram

Don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win books galore from me, Helen, and more! To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is:

 

 Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the gold team and you’ll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!

Continue the hunt!

To keep going, follow along to the next hunt post over at the fabulous Kaitlin Bevis’s blog!

Still here? Welcome to my personal giveaway for the Scavenger Hunt event! Enter here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

T.L. Bodine is the author River of Souls, a recent horror release and a fresh take on zombies.



 Tell us about yourself! From your roots to your branches, tell us how you planted your horror flag in the publishing world!

I can’t really remember a time when I didn’t like horror. When I was a kid I used to stay up late to watch Alfred Hitchcock Presents on Nick at Night, and I have an exceptionally dog-eared copy of Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark that I’ve had since I was probably four or five. I was an anxious kid (and continue to be an anxious adult), and I think I always found something kind of comforting about scary stories — like, so much media aimed at kids makes life out to be all light and happiness, and that didn’t always jive with my experience, so darker stories always felt more like they were telling the truth. Like, “It’s okay to be scared! Sometimes the world is scary!” 

That said, despite devouring horror media in all its forms, I didn’t really think about writing it until a few years ago. Mostly just because I didn’t think I was very scary. Horror was a genre I admired so much, I didn’t know if I could do it “right.” But the more I started hanging out in online writing communities, the less I felt I had in common with a lot of other genre writers, and the more I seemed to get along with people in the horror scene. I wrote a fantasy novel called Tagestraum and someone told me how much it reminded them of Clive Barker and it was a really flattering but also eye-opening moment like, whoa. I’ve been trying to write the wrong genre. No wonder so many projects were fizzling out! 

So around 2015 or 2016 I decided to start really leaning into it, and started posting microfiction and creepypasta to Tumblr. I wrote several horror novels in the intervening years and posted them to Wattpad. And, after falling in love with the horror small press scene, I decided to try publishing River of Souls with Journalstone — and was really delighted when they accepted me! Small presses are cool because you get hands-on treatment and it feels a bit like having a big family, with all the authors supporting each other and getting excited for our successes. It’s a really cool thing that I’m really happy to be part of. 

What inspired River of Souls? What are some of your favorite tropes of Z-fiction as whole? 

Confession: I actually don’t really like zombies very much. I know! But it’s always bothered me how, in most zombie fiction, the zombies are pretty much just generic faceless monsters that could be subbed out for anything without really changing the story. But I do really like the trend of zombie protagonist stories. The first I knew about was Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies, but once I started digging I found a whole bunch more and they appealed to me a lot. Zombies as a vehicle for talking about disenfranchisement made a lot of sense to me, and I leaned into that. 

Once upon a time, the kernel of what would become River of Souls was a more straightforward near-future dystopia. No zombies, just a surveillance state and human rights abuses and a bunch of Bush-era anxieties. But the story always felt a bit flat, no matter how many times I rewrote it, until I decided to start from scratch and redo the whole thing with zombies. Creating the Undead and the city of Los Ojos, NM helped to bring a lot of things into sharper focus. It’s weird, but making the story less realistic also made it feel a lot more true. I think maybe that’s always been my experience with genre fiction. 

If Davin were dropped into any Alternate Universe (AU) setting, what odd situation would you secretly love to see your character flounder his way through?

In another life I think he’d make a pretty good spy. He’s good at going unnoticed and seeing things when people don’t think anyone is watching. (He says hasn’t he suffered enough and couldn’t he just run a flower shop or something?)

If your characters were vassals for a House in Westeros, who would they serve and why? 

Randy = A Lannister, but like, a bastard. He and Tyrion probably could have a lot to talk about over a pint. 

Zoe = House Tyrell. Loyal to her family, smarter than she looks, and totally willing to throw down if you cross her.

 Davin = Probably took the black ages ago and seems honestly relieved not to have a name or lands or titles and nobody can figure out why.

 Do you have any upcoming projects, tidbits, or teasers you would like to share?

I just finished the rough draft of a Wattpad-exclusive called Ashes, Ashes, which is about grief and revenge and murder and friendships gone sour in the wake of a suicide, so you can go check that out if you don’t mind seeing the sausage-making process of a novel posted as it was written! 

Otherwise, my next goal is to work on the River of Souls sequel, which should be exciting news for everyone who’s wondered about the loose threads at the end of the book. I’m still piecing it all together so I don’t want to make a liar of myself by giving away too many details, but I can say it should answer a lot of lingering questions about the Undead. 

Thanks again for having me, Kristin! If anyone wants to stop off and say hello, I’m on social media at: 

https://twitter.com/glassratmedia

https://www.facebook.com/glassratmedia/

https://www.wattpad.com/user/TLBodine

https://tlbodine.tumblr.com/

Heather Kindt is the author of The Weaver, book one in the Weaver Trilogy was released Tuesday 8/20/19 from Parliament House Press



Tell us a little bit about your writing journey.

Back in 2008, I completed my master’s degree in teaching reading. I always seemed to do well on my papers. At the same time, I devoured the Twilight series. The combination of these two things made me think that I could create my own world through my writing. This was when The Weaver was born. I sent a query letter into multiple agents, but in the end, that book, and my second book, Ruby Slips and Poker Chips ended up sitting on my computer for over eight years. In 2017, I saw an ad on Facebook for a writing contest. I was headed out of town with my family, so I combed over one of my chapters for Ruby Slips and sent it in on a whim. That whim turned into me winning the contest and having help to self-publish my work. Six months later, I entered The Weaver into Pitmad and found two interested publishers. I loved the Parliament House website, so I ultimately decided to publish through them.

What inspired the Weaver?

I don’t remember exactly why I decided to have Laney’s characters come out of her books (this was long before I read Inkheart), but there is a lot of inspiration from my own life that shows up in The Weaver. Laney grows up in Derry, New Hampshire. I lived more on the outskirts while Laney lives on the main street downtown. The college Laney goes to is based off my alma mater, Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts. The details I use to describe the campus are my memories – the path in the forest, the pond, the ropes course, the dining hall, the dorm I lived in, the castle building, the quad where Jason plays lacrosse (we didn’t have a football team, but we had a lacrosse team), Singing Sands beach, Rockport, Saugus, Manchester-by-the Sea and I’m sure there’s a lot more. I also incorporated the history of the Revolutionary War and colonial times. I wanted to write a fantasy like Twilight, just minus the vampires.

If your characters were set in an Alternate Universe Fanfiction, what would be your least unexpected setting and genre to see them in?

This is a funny question because later in the trilogy, my characters actually get put into other genres, but I’d have to say some type of futuristic genre like a space odyssey or LitRPG. William and Jonas are from the past and Laney has an old soul. Erotica would also be an area of bad taste for them.

If your characters were on a sinking cruise ship, who would be the first on the lifeboats? Who would nearly drown going down with the ship? Who would Macguyver together a raft out of spare parts?

Ha! Missy would need to find the most comfortable seat on the lifeboat. If it came to Laney’s safety, William would go down with the ship. As far as putting together a raft out of spare parts, I’d have to say Laney. She always wants to find a way to save everybody.

The Sorting Hat has arrived. What are your main characters’ houses and why?

I have to answer this question without giving any spoilers. Right now, I think Laney would be in Hufflepuff. Unlike you, I know Laney’s character arc, so this might change. Right now, she’s loyal and kind. She values others’ feelings over her own. William would be in Gryffindor. He is the epitome of bravery and chivelry. Both in the book world and in Laney’s world, he puts others before himself. Jason would also be a Hufflepuff. He loves being a captain on the Madison lacrosse team and works hard not to hurt his girlfriend’s feelings. Jonas is a Slytherian. As an Ender, he knows what he wants and is determined to get it.

Do you have any upcoming projects you would like to tease us about?

Currently, the Parliament House has picked up all three books in the Weaver Trilogy. The next two books are called The Watcher and The Ender. I’m working on the second book in a new series. The first book is called The Green Door and the second book is called The Red Door. It’s about a group of friends in desperate need of the prize money who decide to play a dangerous game. It’s a coming-of-age fantasy.

The Weaver is now Available where most books are sold!