TATUM FLYNN
  • Home
  • Books
  • Tatum
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • ART

HERE BE DRAGONS : Samantha Verant

29/10/2014

3 Comments

 
Picture
The Kidlit Interview Series
Children's fiction encompasses some of the most imaginative, well-written books out there, so every Tuesday I shine a spotlight on it by interviewing a different middle-grade author. Come back regularly to find super-talented writers answering crucial questions like who they'd want riding alongside come the zombie apocalypse...
My guest this week is the multi-talented Samantha Verant, a classically trained mezzo-soprano, actress, and artist. A triple threat, yet she couldn’t do all three things at once, or so she thought - until she discovered writing. Now she can sing on the page, act out scenes, and design new worlds. She lives in southwestern France, where she's married to a French rocket scientist and busy writing more wacky stories like her MG debut King of the Mutants, which was released by Month 9 Books last week. Scroll to the bottom to win a copy!

Can one boy stop a nefarious plot to turn kids into super-mutants? Maverick Mercury enjoys his life as the sideshow attraction known as “Gator Boy” at Grumbling’s Traveling Circus and Sideshow. His freakish mutations are the result of some billionaire geneticist’s experiments gone awry.  But life as a mutant is about to get worse, as Maverick uncovers a plot to kidnap kids, turns them into super-mutants, and sells their powers to the highest bidder. Now, Maverick is on a mission to find the mad scientist who may have created him, and destroy his sinister plans!
Picture
THE HERE BE DRAGONS 8 KILLER QUESTIONS
1. Uh oh, it’s the zombie apocalypse. Which author (living or dead) do you want riding shotgun?

I’d have to go with Carrie Harris, the YA author of Bad Taste in Boys. She knows zombies. And probably knows how to kill them. But I better watch more episodes of The Walking Dead, just in case.

2. 
Look, I got a time machine on eBay! Where do you want to go? (Said time machine may possibly malfunction and leave you there. Possibly. It was *very* cheap.)

Haha! Back to the Future or Groundhog Day? Hmmm. I’d go back to New York in the roaring twenties. Those flapper girl dresses are pretty darn cute. Plus, I can dance a mean Charleston. Care to join me?

3. What’s your favourite thing about writing for kids?

I’ve always embraced my inner child! Writing for kids lets my inner child out! And sometimes she really needs to get out. I think I’ll go play in the park now. Wait. I can’t. I’m in the middle of an interview. I’ll finish this up and reward myself with a piece of chocolate later.
Picture
4. A witch has cast a spell on you (sorry about that) and you’ve woken up as a character in a children’s book – what’s your special talent or power?

Seems I’ve been turned into a mouse, thanks to Roald Dahl’s The Witches. I suppose I could scare people, eat a lot of cheese (I live in France), and sleep in a matchbox like Stuart Little. Plus, I’m small! I could steal jewelry and charms from the witches and sell them on eBay. Hey, just because I’m a mouse doesn’t mean I can’t use a computer.

5. What’s the scariest or strangest thing you’ve ever done?

Do you have all day? Let’s go for strange. Sometimes I talk for animals. An example? A few years ago, my mother and I were driving in Beverly Hills. Jack, my mom’s Bichon dog, was sitting in my lap. He’d recently been groomed, so he had a big round, fluffy “do.” We were pulled over at a stoplight and this woman in the car next to her was yelling at somebody on her cell phone. I turned my head, propped Jack up, and yelled in a high-pitched voice, “Hey lady, can you keep it down? You’re stressing me out and I just had my hair done.” 

I popped up just in time to see her expression. The woman burst out laughing. It was priceless. Again, yes, I embrace my inner child. There’s no telling what I’ll do.

Picture
6. What’s something you wish you’d known about writing when you started out? What’s something you wish you’d known about publishing?

You know, there was so much I didn’t know in the beginning. I think we writers need to find our own path, stumble and fall on our own. We have to earn our racing stripes. That aside, I wish I’d known how much those first rejections stung! The good news is-- I was able to push forward. This world of publishing takes time, patience, dedication, and tons of hard work. Thankfully, I connected with other writers when I first started out, and when I fell hard, there was somebody there to pick (cheer) me up. Support is extremely paramount, as is never giving up.


7. What would your daemon be?

My daemon, or spiritual guide, would be a hummingbird. He or she would change colors, depending on my mood! Beware the black hummingbird! I may be angry! Beware my daemon! They have very pointy beaks! (My daemon has my back, you see).


8. My books don’t have dragons, but they do have... super-mutants.
Picture
I *do* have a soft spot for the Charleston... Catch up with Sam on Twitter, Goodreads, and her blog, buy King of the Mutants here or here, or enter the rafflecopter giveaway to win one of five copies HERE!


Come back next Tuesday for the Here Be Dragons interview with Paula Harrison, author of The Wildwood Arrow!
3 Comments

HERE BE DRAGONS : Sage Blackwood

21/10/2014

10 Comments

 
Picture
The Kidlit Interview Series
Children's fiction encompasses some of the most imaginative, well-written books out there, so every Tuesday I shine a spotlight on it by interviewing a different middle-grade author. Come back regularly to find super-talented writers answering crucial questions like who they'd want riding alongside come the zombie apocalypse...
This week's honorary dragon is Sage Blackwood, who  was born in Chicago and grew up in New York State. She graduated from Antioch College and the University at Albany, and taught ESL for many years. Her first fantasy novel, Jinx, was selected as a Best Book of 2013 by Kirkus, Booklist, School Library Journal, and Amazon. About her second fantasy, Jinx's Magic, Booklist said, “This series deserves a permanent place in the children's fantasy pantheon, with Narnia and Earthsea.” She tries not to let this go to her head.

The third and final book in the series, Jinx's Fire, is due out March 24, 2015 in the US and the UK & Commonwealth.
Picture
THE HERE BE DRAGONS 8 KILLER QUESTIONS
1. Uh oh, it’s the zombie apocalypse. Which author (living or dead) do you want riding shotgun?

J.K. Rowling! If I'm going to die anyway, I might as well do it while discussing Harry Potter. Besides, it would be fun to pick her BRAAAAIIIINS.

2. Look, I got a time machine on eBay! Where do you want to go? (Said time machine may possibly malfunction and leave you there. Possibly. It was *very* cheap.)

Hm. I hope you kept the receipt. And... if it's not too much to ask... would you mind just taking it out for a little spin? Thanks! If you come back, I'd like to visit medieval England (after I get my plague vaccine), the prehistoric Bering land bridge, Colonial America, 19th century New York City, the earth before we got to work on it... well, actually, everywhen.

But if it's a one-way deal, I'll stay here, please. Miniver Cheevy I'm not. The past is a great place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

3. What’s your favourite thing about writing for kids?

That when people ask me, “So do your books have morals?” I get to cackle with glee and cry, “No, my books have no morals!”

Seriously, though, I don't think about writing for kids much. More than half the readers I hear from are adults. But I love hearing about kids reading my books. Sometimes people send me pictures of their kids reading Jinx, or even better, pictures the kids have drawn. I wanted to say something here about planting seeds in growing minds, and it would be true, but it's not as immediately thrilling as the pictures.

4. A witch has cast a spell on you (sorry about that) and you’ve woken up as a character in a children’s book – what’s your special talent or power?

I can flip ahead a few chapters, and see what's going to happen! If it's bad, I can take evasive action. If it's good, I'll quit worrying and just play along.

5. What’s the scariest or strangest thing you’ve ever done?

Moved to a traditional hunter-gatherer village on the Bering Sea Coast, 400 miles from the nearest road. I stayed four years. It was only the act of moving there that was scary, you understand. After that it was just home.

One day I was standing in the doorway of my cabin, coffee cup in hand, when a big military helicopter roared in and dropped off a couple people. I thought “Should I offer them some coffee?” But I didn't, of course. I think they were on some kind of Arctic survival training mission, so that would have been very insulting.

(After a few years, I moved a bit closer to civilization, to where I could see a Distant Early Warning System tower out my kitchen window. It was the same DEWS tower that once nearly triggered a nuclear war when it detected a flock of geese. Gazing at this thing every day caused me some reflection, largely on the word “Distant”.)

6. What’s something you wish you’d known about writing when you started out? What’s something you wish you’d known about publishing?

About writing, I wish someone had asked me this question: “Are you willing to work harder on this than you have ever worked in your life?”

About publishing: I wish I'd known that the people in publishing are just people! This hit me like a troll's fist when I went to meet my first editor in New York City. I was 45 minutes late because the bus got stuck in traffic. And she was waiting to meet me at a place near Central Park. I apologized profusely-- how could I, a lowly writer, ever be forgiven for keeping a great and mighty editor waiting? She didn't see it that way at all. No problem. She smiled and offered to carry my bag. She was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. She was a great editor. But she didn't live on the pedestal that writers tend to imagine.

7. What would your daemon be?

An owl.

8. My books don’t have dragons, but they do have... Werewolves! Cranky wizards, cackling witches. A sentient forest. An apprentice magician with an attitude problem. 

My next-next book –the one after Jinx's Fire-- actually will have a dragon.

Tatum Flynn, thanks for interviewing me! And for having this blog where you call MG MG! I'm looking forward to reading your book...it looks terrific!

Picture
Thanks, Sage! Am so impressed with your amazing Bering Sea shenanigans that I'll let your MC off for having the same name as mine :) Jinxes unite! Find out more about Sage and her books on her website and chat to her on Twitter.


Come back next Tuesday for the Here Be Dragons interview with 
Samantha Verant, author of King of the Mutants!
10 Comments

HERE BE DRAGONS: Marion Jensen

14/10/2014

29 Comments

 
Picture

The Kidlit Interview Series

Children's fiction encompasses some of the most imaginative, well-written books out there, so every Tuesday I shine a spotlight on it by interviewing a different middle-grade author. Come back regularly to find super-talented writers answering crucial questions like who they'd want riding alongside come the zombie apocalypse...
This week's guest is the alligator-wrestling (really - see below!) Marion Jensen. By day he's a mild-mannered instructional designer. By night, he puts on a cape and writes superhero books. Books that will make you laugh, cry (but only because you're laughing so hard), and then laugh some more. 

His debut, Almost Super, came out in January, 2014 with HarperCollins. Perfect for fans of Pixar's The Incredibles, Almost Super is a fresh, funny middle-grade adventure about two brothers in a family of superheroes who must find a way to be heroic despite receiving powers that are total duds.
Picture
THE HERE BE DRAGONS 8 KILLER QUESTIONS
1) Uh oh, it’s the zombie apocalypse. Which author (living or dead) do you want riding shotgun?

My first thought is to have a tough author by me to help fight off the zombies. Somebody like Ernest Hemingway who was as good at fisticuffs as any writer I know. The problem with this strategy is that everybody knows whoever is riding shotgun is a secondary character. That means at some point, they're going to be bitten, which means now I've got a zombie Earnest Hemingway to deal with. Yeah. I don't like that idea either. So instead, I'm going with James Joyce. I think I could outrun a zombie James Joyce.
Picture
James Joyce: Yup, I think maybe even *I* could outrun him.
2) Look, I got a time machine on eBay! Where do you want to go? (Said time machine may possibly malfunction and leave you there. Possibly. It was *very* cheap.)

That's easy. I'd go back to last Thursday when I TOTALLY fell for a RickRoll. Stupid Rickroll.

3) What’s your favourite thing about writing for kids?

I love writing for kids who check under their beds for monsters... just in case. Kids who, when they get stung by a bee, wait to see if they develop superpowers. Kids that age still live in what I call the age of wonder, and they have a great imagination and a wonderful outlook on life.

4) A witch has cast a spell on you (sorry about that) and you’ve woken up as a character in a children’s book – what’s your special talent or power?

I'm going to pick a character out of my upcoming book, Searching for Super. Merry Johnson is a superhero. She has the ability to grow a mustache on her left kneecap. Because I mean... come on. That's just awesome.

5) What’s the scariest or strangest thing you’ve ever done?

I once wrestled an alligator. No joke. An honest, live alligator in Florida. Just don't ask how big it was. Okay. It was about ten inches. But still... I won.

6) What’s something you wish you’d known about writing when you started out?

I wish I'd known that writing isn't something you can either do or not do. It's just like everything else. If you practice, you're going to get better. The more you practice, the better you will become. It's like running. You don't wake up one morning and run fifty miles. But if you practice, you can totally run that far. 

7) What would your daemon be?

I don't know for sure what my daemon would be, but if there is fairness and beauty in the world, it would have the ability to dispense Pez. A Pez-dispensing daemon. 

8) My books don’t have dragons, but they do have...  belly buttons, Russian belchers, and a military-grade glove compartment.

Picture
A Pez-dispensing daemon may be my favourite idea yet :D Find out more about Marion and his books on his website and Goodreads page, and chat with him on Twitter.

Come back next Tuesday for the Here Be Dragons interview with Sage Blackwood, author of the Jinx series!
29 Comments
<<Previous
    Picture
    Tatum Flynn is the author of devilish MG fantasies The D'Evil Diaries and Hell's Belles (Orchard/ Hachette Kids), and several unfinished To Do lists.

    Archives

    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    Categories

    All
    Critiquing
    Mentoring
    MG Author Interviews
    Pretty Pictures
    Publishing
    Querying
    Writing
    YA Author Interviews
    YALC

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.