Lucienne Diver is stopping by my blog tonight were her
newest YA novel, Fangtabulous.
About the book:
Gina Covello and her band of federal fugitives are on the
run after taking down a secret (and sinister) government facility. Strapped
without cash or credit cards—a fate worse than death for Gina—the rebels must
find a place to lay low. They roll into Salem, Massachusetts, the most haunted
town in America and the only place they have friends flying under the radar.
But within a day, Gina and her gang are embroiled in a murder mystery of the
supernatural kind.
Someone—or something—is strangling young women, and it's
rumored to be the ghost of Sheriff Corwin, late of the Salem Witch trials. Is it the ghostly Sheriff or is someone on
this side of the veil using the famous story as a cover up? Gina is determined
to get to the bottom of this mystery, and she needs to do it before a
paranormal reporter on the scene exposes them for what they are...fanged
federal fugitives.
Our Interview:
KRISTINA: How did
you get the idea for Fangtabulous?
LUCIENNE: Fangtabulous is set in Salem, Massachusetts. I didn’t actually have an idea in mind when I
set out to write it, just a contract and a setting. (My publisher had made a two-book offer based
on my proposal for the previous book, Fangtastic, which was a wonderful show of
faith.) But visiting the town of Salem,
walking the haunted streets, visiting the Witch Dungeon Museum, The House of
the Seven Gables (Nathanial Hawthorne’s house), The Witch House, where one of
the judges from the witch trials held interrogations, The Old Burying Point
Cemetery and other sites that appear in the book, I was inspired. The plot of unsettled spirits stirred to
deadly heights by something happening present-day suggested itself, and the
book took off from there.
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?
LUCIENNE: Not nearly enough!
I wish I could clone myself sometimes.
Trying to write my current book while revising, editing, proofing and
promoting previous books seems like a full time job, and I already have one of
those (as a literary agent)!
KRISTINA: Have
you ever based one of your characters on someone you know? If so, did that
person find out? How did they react?
LUCIENNE: One of my ex-boyfriends from college was the
inspiration, visually, at least, for Ulric, a charming/cocky goth guy who shows
up in two of the Vamped books— Revamped and the current novel
Fangtabulous. When we reconnected on Facebook
I let him know that he’d been part of the creation of Ulric, so, of course, he
had to read Revamped. His reaction, “Was
I really that cocky?”
KRISTINA: Would
you ever try writing in another genre?
LUCIENNE: I would! In
fact, I’ve already got the Latter-Day Olympians urban fantasy series going,
although it’s not so much in a different genre as for an older audience. But the next young adult novel I want to work
on is darker than the Vamped series, and very mainstream/suspense based without
any paranormal elements, which will be quite a departure for me!
KRISTINA: Who is
(or who are) the Young Adult author that turns you into a fangirl?
LUCIENNE: I would be a complete and utter fangirl if I ever
met Suzanne Collins or Rick Riordan. I
love them both! I’ve already gotten to
fangirl to Barry Lyga for I Hunt Killers, which I can highly recommend. I’m also a rabid fan of all of the young
adult authors I represent as a literary agent: Rachel Caine, Rosemary
Clement-Moore, Chloe Neill, Molly Cochran and Amy Christine Parker, whose debut
novel, Gated, is coming out in August from Random House Children’s.
KRISTINA: Are you
on twitter? Where can we follow you?
LUCIENNE: I’m everywhere!
KRISTINA: Do you
prefer reading on an ereader or book in hand?
LUCIENNE: Book in hand!
I knew e-books are better for the environment, but I spend so much of my
work time working on computers and e-readers, I really enjoy the break and the
format of printed books.
About the Author:
Lucienne Diver writes the humorous, suspenseful Vamped
series of young adult vampire novels for Flux Books, including Vamped,
Revamped, Fangtastic and the most recent, Fangtabulous. Her short stories have been included in the
Strip-Mauled and Fangs for the Mammaries anthologies edited by Esther Friesner
(Baen Books), and her essay on abuse is included in the anthology Dear Bully:
70 Authors Tell Their Stories (HarperTeen).
She also writes the Latter-Day Olympians urban fantasy series for
Samhain (Bad Blood, Crazy in the Blood and the forthcoming Rise of the
Blood).
Websites:
