{Giveaway winners} Author Interview and eBooks Giveaway: Derrolyn Anderson

Derrolyn Anderson is the author of Marina's Tales, a self-published series of books about mermaids, and much more. For the moment, two books have been released, Between The Land and The Sea and The Moon and The Tide. I really loved those two books, they were fantastic, refreshing and awesome readings. I can't praise them enough and you can find my reviews here and there. Derrolyn has very kindly accepted to answer a few questions and she has also offered to give away two sets of ebooks for two lucky winners (the link to enter is after the interview).

I'd like to thank Derrolyn a lot, for her time, as she's working hard on the third book and for the giveway.

- What motivated and inspired you to write a book about mermaids, surfers and Californian beaches?

I’ve always been a reader, but suddenly got the idea to start writing my first book last summer. I’m not really sure what made me think I could do it, but once I got started I became a little bit obsessed! It ended up being one of the most challenging, frustrating, and ultimately rewarding things I’ve ever done.

I spent the first ten years of my marriage living in the little neighborhood in Aptos where the story takes place, and I really miss my daily walks down to the beach. There really is a “secret staircase”, a cement shipwreck with a pier leading up to it, with really good surfing just up the coast a little bit! I think that given the setting, mermaids seemed like a natural choice! Now I see them everywhere I look!

- Which of the characters is your favourite one and why? Are the characters based on the people you know?

Wow, I love them all, so that’s a really hard one to answer. In the book that I’m currently writing (#3), so far I’m having the most fun with Shayla - there are some big things in store for that girl! All of the characters I write are loosely based on people I’ve known, or imagined I knew, taking a whole lot of artistic license.

For example, I have a very interesting, very chic aunt, that the character Aunt Evie is inspired by. My Aunt Janice was a fashion model and designer in New York, San Francisco and Paris, working in the glamorous “Mad Men” era. She was even featured in the 1963 Louis Malle film, “The Fire Within” (shown in flashbacks and still photos as the long-lost American girl). Unfortunately, unlike the mercenary Evie, she didn’t marry for money- so no fancy clothes and sports cars for me!

-Why do you write for young adults? Do you wish to write adults books?

I love all of the great the YA stories I read, and I think some of the most interesting writing today is coming out of that genre. As for me, I’m the mother of three teenage girls, so I have a vested interest in keeping my stories reasonably clean and sweet! Perhaps when my girls are a little bit older my writing will mature along with them. I have a few crazy eighties tales to tell....

- Which place is most likely to inspire you when you're writing? Do you rather write outside or at home? Do you plan a lot?

My husband and I run a home-based business, so I’m always at home. I try to carve out a little alone-time with my lap-top each evening, usually in my bedroom, sometimes out in my garden, which is bordered by hundreds of acres of vineyards- an ocean of pinot noir grapevines! I begin with an outline, but I’m open to random inspiration, and I often end up surprising myself.

- You're self-published, how was that experience?

Everything I read told me the first step in getting published was having a literary agent to shop your book around to the big publishing houses. When I finished my first book I sent query letters out to dozens of agents and got back plenty of form rejection letters. Steve, (my visionary entrepreneur of a husband) had been encouraging me to self-publish all along, so I worked up a few quick book covers with Photoshop, priced them low, and went for it.

I would have signed anything in order to get published, but now I own all the rights for all eternity so who knows? With the advent of e-readers, ten years from now it may seem like the brightest move I ever made! I do need to re-work my covers though... I think I can do a little better!

Self publishing takes away the gatekeeper’s power, but it also lets a lot of questionable writing through. I think that’s where trusted critics will step in to filter through the masses of content and help direct the right reader to find the right book. The hardest part about being an indie-writer is doing the self promotion, but with wonderful book-bloggers like you, and great websites like Goodreads, it’s getting easier!

- Can you tell us something fun about yourself that we probably don’t know?

When I was in college studying art, I used to work at night as an airport hotel bartender, and that alone has provided me with the inspiration for dozens of characters! Oh, and I type with one finger.

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This giveaway is now terminated. Thank you again to all who entered. 

The winners, picked with Random.org, are :

- Luna Z.
- Mirlou

They will be notified by email. Stay tuned there'll be other giveaways soon.

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And now the Giveaway. I totally loved those two books (you can find my reviews here and there). So I'm really glad to be able to share them with two lucky winners. Thank you so much to Derrolyn.

Giveaway details: Two winners will be picked using Random.org. Each winner will receive a set of two ebooks (Between the Land and The Sea {Marina's Tales, book 1} AND The Moon and The Tide {Marina's Tales, book 2}). Several formats are available: mobi (Kindle), epub (Nook, Kobo, Sony..) Pdf - you can view all of them here.

You don't need to be a GFC follower, but that's appreciated.

You can have extra entries:
+1 if you follow my blog (GFC follower)
+1 if you share this giveaway (twitter or facebook or anywhere) You can use the following tweet: Ebooks giveaway: Win Between The Land and The Sea and The Moon and The Tide by Derrolyn Anderson http://bit.ly/mU9DC1 @liliesbooks

Click here to enter!

The contest is open from now to the 30th July 2011. The two winners will be announced on the blog on the 31st July 2011 and I will contact them by email. If I don’t hear from them within a reasonable time, I will select other winners using Random.org. The giveaway is opened internationally. Please feel free to contact me if you have questions.

Enter Here!

Good Luck to Everyone :)

Interview with Cyndi Tefft, author of Between

Cyndi Tefft, the author of Between (my review) has very kindly accepted to answer a few questions.

You can find the first part of this interview translated in French on my French blog here and the second part on the one of my friend Kittens there. (Pour la traduction de cette interview en français c'est sur mon blog français ici et celui de Kittens ici)

Could you tell us a few words about you and about Between?

Between is a love story between a modern American girl who dies in a car accident and the 18th century Scottish Highlander who comes to take her to heaven.

The book incorporates several places that are dear to me: Seattle, Washington (USA- where I live now), Paris and Versailles (since I studied French in school) and Scotland (because I have a thing for men in kilts)!

What motivated and inspired you to write a book about Paradise, In-Between and a Scottish in kilt?

I wanted to write a good-versus-evil story but I felt that angels and demons had already been done quite a bit. The grim reaper is a well-known concept, but hasn’t shown up much in romance novels. I figured that I could do whatever I wanted in the afterlife, since there are no set rules. The hero is Scottish because I was reading Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series at the time and was completely enamored with Scotland. Still am!

Why do you write for young adults? Do you wish to write adult books?

I didn’t plan on writing a teen book, to be honest. When I finished the first draft and started getting feedback from other writers, they noted that the tone was more in line with a young adult novel. Some reviewers have commented that Between has a more adult tone than other YA books, and I agree. At 18, Lindsey is an older teen, which I thought worked well because not only is she in between heaven and earth, but she’s in between a child and an adult as well.

I will probably write both teen and adult books in the future. It just depends upon the story!

What sorts of books do you read?

I mentioned Outlander already (my all-time fave). I love historical fiction and romance. Nora Roberts’ Born in Fire trilogy is stellar. Philippa Gregory’s The Other Boleyn Girl is a fascinating read. In the YA category, Twilight, the Vampire Academy series (particularly Spirit Bound) and Anna & The French Kiss top my list of faves.

Are you afraid that some people will react badly to the religious moments in Between?

I wouldn’t say I was afraid, but I did wonder how that would go over. So far, I have been extremely pleased by the response. Reviewers have definitely commented on it, but everyone has noted that the spiritual aspects are not preachy in any way, but central to the characters and their story.

I think faith is something that authors often shy away from, since it’s easier to avoid the topic altogether than to take a chance that someone might be offended. However, how your characters feel about God—whatever their feelings may be—can add real depth and substance, in my opinion.

Which place is most likely to inspire you when you're writing? Do you rather write outside or at home? Do you plan a lot?

I take walks along the waterfront during my lunch break at work, and often use that time to think about the scenes I’m writing. I love the beauty of the water and the mountains, and no one bats an eye at the crazy lady talking to herself on the walking trail! They probably think I’m talking on a Bluetooth headset. Ha!

But when it comes to writing, I need focus and solitude to do that. I can’t write in a crowded, busy place like a coffee shop. If I get interrupted or distracted, it’s hard for me to get back in the zone again.

I wouldn’t say I’m a planner, but that I work out the scenes as I go along. Part of the fun of writing is figuring out what comes next!

Have you ever been to Scotland? Because we really feel your love for this country in this book.

Aw, yay! :) Actually, I have been to Scotland, but I’d written the book before I had the chance to go. I finished the first draft of Between in November 2009 and went to Scotland in May 2010. My visit to Eilean Donan Castle (Aiden’s childhood home) was surreal. In the book, Aiden’s uncle William addresses a crowd of warriors from a balcony overlooking the great hall. When I finally got the chance to stand in that spot (as I imagined he did), tears of joy streamed down my face.

Which of the characters is your favourite and why?

Aiden, hands down. I think any romance writer falls in love (at least a little bit) with the hero while writing and I am no exception. I loved writing his character, researching 18th century Scotland, and speaking the dialogue in my horrible attempt at a Scottish accent! I still love reading the scenes with Aiden because—I’ll admit it—he makes me swoon. (I totally agree with that!)

Are the characters based on the people you know?

I put all the people I’ve ever known into a personality blender and created new characters out of them so there is no one person in the book who is based on someone in real life. However, Lindsey is very much like me. I intentionally gave her traits I don’t have (like the fact that she can cook and I could burn water). Still, the way she thinks and reacts is often how I would, under the circumstances.

I was very surprised (but happy) at the end to see that there'll be a sequel. Could you tell us a bit more?

Well, I can’t say much since I don’t want to give away any plot points from the first book, but I can tell you that it’s called Hell Transporter. Aiden’s job is to transport souls from earth to heaven, and the second book has to do with his counterpart. I’ve got a cover in mind that is similar to Between’s, but with a red flame instead of blue smoke. I think it’s going to complement the first book beautifully.

I am about one-third of the way through the first draft of Hell Transporter. Now that Between has been launched, I will turn my attention to getting the sequel finished. But let me just say, the ending… oh, you’ll like that!

Are you currently working on a new book beside the sequel of Between? Can you tell us a little bit about it?

I have started and stopped writing a handful of others, so I’m not really sure where my writing will take me after the sequel is finished. No matter what, there will be a love story in there somewhere!

Thanks so much for having me on the blog. I had a great time!

Once again, thank you so much Cyndi.

You can fin Cyndi online there :

www.cynditefft.com
www.facebook.com/AuthorCyndiTefft
www.twitter.com/cynditefft
www.goodreads.com/cynditefft
www.shelfari.com/cynditefft
www.librarything.com/author/tefftcyndi