Blog Tour: KA Tucker - Anathema

Welcome everyone to blog tour stop #4 of the ANATHEMA tour!

Evangeline has spent her teenage years in obscurity. Her foster parents have the emotional aptitude of robots and her classmates barely acknowledge her existence. About to turn eighteen and feeling like a social pariah, she is desperate to connect with someone. Anyone.

When Evangeline meets Sofie after literally stumbling upon her café, she believes she’s found that connection. Willing to do anything to keep it, she accepts a job as Sofie’s assistant and drops everything to fly to Manhattan, where she is thrust into a luxurious world of Prada, diamonds, and limitless cash.

With such generosity and kindness, it’s easy for Evangeline to dismiss certain oddities . . . like Sofie’s erratic and sometimes violent behavior, and the monstrous guard dogs. She’s even willing to dismiss her vivid dreams of mob-style murders, beautiful homeless people living in caves, and white-eyed demons that haunt her each night as figments of her imagination—especially when one of those figments is the gorgeous Caden. When she wakes up with bite marks on her neck, the fairy tale quickly turns into a nightmare. She slowly unravels the mystery surrounding Sofie and friends, and the reality of the bites and the “dreams.” What she discovers is far more mysterious and terrible than anything she could have imagined.

In a world where everyone has motive to lie for personal gain, Evangeline must decide which deception is least likely to get her killed.

If you haven't yet read Anathema by K.A. Tucker, check out my review to find out what you're missing! This book is fantastic, as you can see from my review. I got the opportunity to interview the wonderful author for the blog tour, and here's what happened!

Mickey @ imabookshark: Thanks so much for including me on your book tour!! For those who don’t know you, tell us a little bit about yourself.

K.A. Tucker: Hi Mickey! First off, thanks for having me here for Day 4 of my blog stop J I am a wife and mother of two little girls, I work full-time in a Sales role at a big consumer goods company, and I recently discovered my true passion – writing fiction fantasy novels! I just released my first novel in June, a YA Paranormal Romance Fantasy novel called Anathema. It is the first in the Causal Enchantment series.

M: Anathema is one of the best, most original books I’ve read this year! How did you come up with the idea for the novel?

K: It all started with me asking myself a question: “What would happen if vampires killed off all the humans in the world?” I knew I wanted a love story worked into it and I wanted there to be an adventure and BIG life or death scenario so I began building the story around that. I asked myself a lot of ‘what if’ questions and I just wrote. To be fair, coming out of first draft the plots didn’t fully tie together, the characters weren’t as they are now (Rachel didn’t exist, Sofie wasn’t quite so mysterious, and Viggo was actually nice!). It took some blood (paper cuts), sweat, and sleep deprivation to get it to the story that it is now.

M: We appreciate the sacrifice!! So, Evangeline starts off as this shy, quiet, kind of mousy teenager. She progresses, learns, and grows into a smart, quick-thinking, almost outspoken woman. Did someone inspire this character?

K: No, she’s a figment of my imagination. I’m sure there are people out there like that, but I’ve never met anyone quite as forgiving and kind. Most of the books I read have witty, sarcastic female protagonists. I love those characters but I didn’t want Evangeline to be one of them. I wanted her to be someone different from all the rest. I didn’t want her to have a hard shell. I wanted her to be faced with a terrible scenario and have the courage, determination, and to some extent, the naivety to accept it. I wanted her to take horrible things and make the best of them. Evangeline’s character became more obvious to me as I decided how I wanted her to react to the curve balls I kept throwing at her throughout the plot.

M: That explains her perfectly! But then you have Caden, your delicious male character. Is there anyone in particular you used as a foundation for his sculpted body and strong physique? *drool*

K: LOL. Only most every female’s dream male character. I didn’t think ‘beer-bellied hunchback with seven toes and tufts of ear hair’ would appeal (no offense intended to anyone out there who has these physical traits… or to anyone who finds this kind of guy appealing… Different strokes for different folks.).

M: Haha probably not as much as Caden currently does! I’m sure you’re busy writing the sequel to the Causal Enchantment series. Any news you can give your fans? Even the tiniest scoop will tide us over!

K: I’ve finished the first draft of Asylum and the revised plot outline J I will begin working on the revision once the Anathema book tour is over. I can tell you that you will get to know Sofie A LOT better as Asylum is divided between Sofie’s and Evangeline’s POV. I’m having tons of fun with everyone’s favourite special canine, Max, and I’m still toying with a few different ideas for what role Julian will play.

M: Sounds great!! Have you always wanted to be an author? What might you be doing if you weren’t an author?

K: I still have a hard time calling myself an author. It’s foreign to me for some reason. I started Anathema almost two years ago and yet it feels like everything is happening so fast. Before I started writing, I never would have thought I’d be on a book tour in July 2011 to promote my book! And now here I am. I’m moonlighting as an author really, given I have a full-time career that keeps me on my toes during the day. It’s strange that I would have enough energy to sit down and write after a full day of work and chasing two little monsters until bedtime but writing fiction has become my little piece of heaven at the end of a hectic day.

M: I can only imagine how hard it is to juggle all that! So when you do get time, where is your favorite place to write your novels and come up with ideas?

K: There are two places I work through my plots – on the treadmill, with music blaring, and while sitting in traffic on my way to and from work. I haven’t been on the treadmill in awhile…*averts gaze* but I do still spend at least 2 ½ hours in my car most weekdays. When I’m not cursing traffic, I’m plotting. It sounds sinister but I can’t keep my mind from wandering (while obeying the rules of the road, of course!).

M: You’re a multi-tasker like me! I love it! I also love to read a little bit of everything. What other genres might you be interested in writing? Ever think about venturing into the adult territory?

K: I am a HUGE George R.R. Martin fan. He’s probably my favourite author of all time. I also love medieval-based worlds. So I could see myself wandering into that genre at some point. However, you can expect it would have a more feminine feel to it and it would likely still be based on some sort of romance/adventure mix. And I’d still have fade-to-black intimate scenes because I’m not a fan of too much detail there. J

M: I love audio books, and I’d love to listen to this one. If you could pick anyone to narrate your novel, who would it be?

K: Wow. That’s a good question! I haven’t the slightest idea… seriously. The last audio book I listened to was Peter and the Wolf. I was four and sitting in my dark basement. It scared the crap out of me. Maybe it scarred me for life because I’ve never been a fan of audio story-telling since. Let me ask, who would YOU want to narrate this story? If they’ll take gummy bears and a bottle of cheap wine as payment, perhaps I can strike a deal for you. J

M: Hmmm.. I might pick Tavia Gilbert only because I love her voice! However, I’m not a fan of book trailers only because I also don’t like to read descriptions of books before I read them. I did just watch yours and… whoa! Powerful! What are your thoughts on your book trailer and the tool in general?

K: I’m not a fan of many book trailers for two reasons: 1) I don’t like audio voice-overs (read answer above on that one) and 2) I don’t like to see faces of people. It kills my imagination. It’s like watching a movie and then going to read the book -you can’t help but picture that actor. The only time I’ve been okay with that is when Robert Pattinson’s face was in my head while reading the Twilight series. Who would object!

M: True that!!

K: That being said, a lot of people LOVE book trailers and they’re gaining popularity as a key tool to promote a book, especially with the tech-savvy youth of today and the steady traffic to Youtube. So I figured that if I could rely on music and teaser images, I could produce something I liked. Enter Microsoft Movie Maker and a lot of caffeine. I spent my Easter weekend writing a story board, searching for images, and muddling my way through the tool. I’m really happy with the result, given I had no sweet clue what I was doing. I can’t wait to create one for Asylum.

M: Whoa, you made that?! Sweet!! And you’re also on Twitter. Do you think social media generally helps or harms?

K: For me, it’s been amazing. I’ve met wonderful people (present company included J ) who I can chat with at random, I’ve arranged reviews with fab bloggers, and I’ve created a lot of buzz for my book. Where I can see it being harmful is with how addictive it is! It’s so much fun to read through peoples’ tweets but it can eat away at your time. Time that could be spent writing. And given I’m restricted to writing after 8:30pm when my kids are asleep, every minute is precious for me. You’ll likely see my presence on Twitter slow down a bit once I get into revisions for Asylum, for the simple fact that I need to buckle down or I won’t get the book out and then I may be lynched by a few people. But just ‘@’ me and I’ll reply!

M: I know what you mean about it eating up time, but we appreciate the contact! I’m sure you barely have time with all that you do, but what’s the best book you’ve read lately? We need some recommendations until Anathema’s sequel comes out!

K: I haven’t done as much reading as I would like lately, given my own book release. I would highly recommend that everyone in the world read the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin (Game of Thrones, for those HBO lovers out there). It’s heavy, it’s long, but Martin’s world building and character development is out of this world. I wrote a post about it on my blog, actually. I’m a little obsessed. If you’re an author, you MUST read it. You will be a better writer because of it. I’ve recently downloaded Tiffany King’s Meant to Be and Megg Jensen’s Anathema onto my Kindle for PC (yes… another Anathema, basically same genre, released a few months before mine. I’ve also written a post on that, on my blog J ) Both books are getting great reviews and the authors are as sweet as apple pie. I’m aiming to read those by the end of July.

M: Thanks! Now, we all know that you’re a fabulous writer. Do you have any hidden talents?

K: Aww, shucks *blushes* I don’t know if you’d call them ‘hidden’ or ‘talents’ but I can usually whip up a decent meal. I think it’s because I’m not afraid to experiment and my husband is willing to eat my experiments LOL. I make a pretty mean pie crust. My mom used to ask me to help her make pies – she’d make the filling while I prepared the crust (I think she secretly loathed making crust).

M: Sounds yum!! If you could speak one other language, what would it be?

K: At one point in time, I spoke four languages – English, French, and Polish fluently and German, passable enough to order a beer at a bar (not that I would… I was only fifteen. Just saying, if I NEEDED to…) I’ve since lost all languages except English because I didn’t use them. Very sad. I think Japanese would be really cool to learn.

M: Everyone should know how to order a beer in a few different languages ;o) Finally, I’m a huge pet person, and your blog says that you have “an exhausting brood of four-legged creatures.” Tell us more about them!

K: When I moved into my first apartment twelve years ago, I adopted a kitten from a farm near my parents’ house. I remember there being four perfectly adorable kittens curled up in a ball for me to choose from and then one black kitten climbing the wall behind the door. Guess which one I chose? I should have known better… I soon named her “Hades” because she was the kitten from Hell, shredding all of my clothes and attacking my guests. She evolved to “Kitty” over time when she finally calmed down (a few medical procedures at the vet helped with that). Then, when I moved in with my future husband, we decided to adopt a puppy from a local shelter. We chose a beautiful puppy (we didn’t know what she was – they said ‘Sharpei-mix’ but I see husky/lab/shepherd in her) and named her Phoenix. She’s the most gentle dog ever but she has attachment issues… for years we couldn’t leave the house without coming home to having it look like we had been robbed. Every day. Holes in our mattresses, banister rails chewed apart, paperwork shredded, every pair of Nine Wests mauled. I could go on forever…

We should have stopped there.

But then… here’s the kicker. I was shopping in a mall one day and I thought I’d check out the pet store. I found the cutest, smallest pot-bellied Chug ever imaginable. When I took him out to hold him, he shook like a little leaf, he was so timid. I fell in love instantly. At first my husband said “No”. I made a deal with him – I convinced him to come and see the little puppy and, if he still said no, I’d never ask again. I knew I had him (my husband’s a softy with animals). So, one pet store visit and a stupid amount of money later, Milo came home with us. Phoenix loved him right away. Kitty… not so much. And the cute, little nervous shake he had? It was all an act. He is the most hyper, friendly, in-your-face dog I’ve ever met. He barks non-stop and he snores like an old, fat man. I’ve spent the last five years trying to pawn him off on everyone I know, half-jokingly. Only half… no takers yet.

Thank you Mickey for having me here today and for helping me promote Anathema. Fun questions!!!

M: Oh my goodness!! Not going to lie, I had to Google an image of a Chug and it’s freaking adorable :o) Thank you for doing the interview with me, Kathleen!!

Bio:
Born in small-town Ontario, Kathleen published her first book at the age of six with the help of her elementary school librarian and a box of crayons.

She is a voracious reader and the farthest thing from a genre-snab, loving everything from High Fantasy to Chick Lit.

Kathleen currently resides in a quaint small town outside of Toronto with her husband, two beautiful girls, and an exhausting brood of four-legged creatures.

She is working on the sequel to Anathema, to be released in 2012. ("YAY!!" says Mickey.)

Contest Contest Contest!!

Kathleen is giving away a signed, print copy of Anathema to one lucky winner at the end of the blog tour. Anyone can enter by visiting her site at www.katuckerbooks.com (read giveaway rules posted). Do you want up to 10 extra chances to win? Visit each blog stop for an Anathema Quiz question. Answer it correctly and your name is entered! Simple!

• Here's your quiz question for today, Blog Stop #4: How are mutants created?
• To submit your answer, click here!
  
• And if you haven't read Anathema yet... what are you waiting for?! Now's the best chance!

But That's Not All..

I also have FIVE signed bookmarks to give away!! Here are the details:

• Leave a comment with your name and email address/Twitter handle and you're entered.
• Leave a separate comment for one extra entry if you tweet about the interview/giveaway. Please include direct link.
  
• Five other winners will receive one signed Anathema bookmark.
  
• Must be 13 or older.
• You don't have to be a follower, but it's appreciated of course!
• Ends at 11:59 PM PST on 7/16/11.
  
• Winners will be picked with random.org.

Thanks everyone for stopping by!!