It’s
been awhile since I’ve had a touring girlfriend! Gretchen McNeil is here to
talk about her super intriguing looking book, TEN.
About TEN:
And
their doom comes swiftly.
It
was supposed to be the weekend of their lives – three days on Henry Island at
an exclusive house party. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their own
reasons for wanting to be there, both of which involve Kamiak High’s most
eligible bachelor, T.J. Fletcher. But what starts out as a fun-filled weekend
turns dark and twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message:
Vengeance is mine.
Suddenly,
people are dying and the teens are cut off from the outside world. No
electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn’t scheduled to return
for two days. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on each
other, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer
to her than she could ever imagine?
Our Interview:
KRISTINA: How did you get the
idea for (title of book)?
GRETCHEN:
TEN is an homage to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, originally
titled Ten Little Indians.
KRISTINA: If your book was made
into a movie, who would star as your main character?
GRETCHEN:
Not sure about Meg, but I’d love to see her best friend Minnie portrayed by
Elle Fanning.
KRISTINA: How much time do you
spend on marketing your book? Is there one specific type of marketing that you
find works best for you?
GRETCHEN:
TONS of time. Currently, I'm running a
grass roots campaign called The Army of Ten (http://armyoften.blogspot.com)
where fans can win prizes for helping me with promotion. Grand prize includes getting their name in
the Acknowledgments of my next book!
KRSTINA: Would you ever try
writing in another genre?
GRETCHEN:
I'd love to write adult horror. Slight
difference, I know, but oh, the things I could do…
KRISTINA: Are you on twitter? Where can we follow
you?
GRETCHEN:
Oh yes! @GretchenMcNeil!
KRISTINA: What are you working on now?
GRETCHEN:
My next book is called 3:59 and comes out Fall 2013. It's sci-fi horror about two girls who are
the same girl in different dimensions, who discover that their worlds connect
every twelve hours – at 3:59 – for one minute.
When they decide to switch places for a day, all hell breaks loose.
Literally.
After
that I just sold a two book series, also to Balzer + Bray, for 2014 and
2015. GET EVEN and GET DIRTY are books
one and two in the Don't Get Mad series about four very different girls who
have formed a secret revenge society, getting back at bullies and mean girls
who have terrorized their classmates, which all goes well until one of their
targets turns up dead and the society is implicated in the death.
KRISTINA: They all sound
fantastic Gretchen! Good luck to you with TEN! And if you guys want to pick up
a copy of TEN you can find it here. And be sure to leave Gretchen a review on Amazon and Goodreads!
About the Author:
Gretchen
McNeil is an opera singer, writer and clown.
Her YA horror POSSESS debuted with Balzer + Bray for HarperCollins in
2011. Her follow up TEN – YA
horror/suspense about ten teens trapped on a remote island with a serial killer
– will be released September 18, 2012, and her third novel 3:59, sci fi
doppelganger horror is scheduled for Fall 2013.
Gretchen's new YA contemporary series Don't Get Mad (Revenge meets The
Breakfast Club) begins Fall 2014 with GET EVEN, followed by the sequel GET
DIRTY in 2015, also with Bazler + Bray.
Gretchen
is a former coloratura soprano, the voice of Mary on G4's Code Monkeys and she
sings with the LA-based circus troupe Cirque Berzerk. Gretchen blogs with The Enchanted Inkpot and
is a founding member of the vlog group the YARebels where she can be seen as
"Monday."
