What
inspired you to become an author?
I’ve always been a writer, since the time I was in
grade school. And I’m an avid reader,
although haven’t had as much time for that as I’d like. There’s something so powerful about the
written word and how it makes you feel.
Do
you title the book first or wait until after it’s complete?
Definitely wait until after it’s written. The title changes many times before
then.
Is
there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
Even
though The Soul Stealer is paranormal/fantasy fiction, there are very real
themes running through it about trust and love.
It’s actually a metaphor for the downside of dating. You meet a handsome stranger, he seems
perfect, but as you get to know him, his past and secrets become obstacles to
your relationship. In The Soul Stealer,
Malia and Hunter do that same dance, only it’s intensified because he doesn’t
want to just hide his past from her.
Hunter has to hide the fact that he’s not really human and that he’s
supposed to kill her to take possession of her soul. So, with Hunter comes some extreme baggage. But he’s hot, so Malia decides to put up with
it.
Is
the book, characters, or any scenes based on a true life experience, someone
you know, or events in your own life?
I was single for 20 years and grew very tired of
dating. A love interest can seem perfect
when you first meet him. But all too
soon, when you get past that perfect façade, you become disillusioned with “the
right guy.” It happened over and over to
me.
What
books/authors have influenced your life?
Diana Gabaldon, Stehpen King, Anne Rice. I think you see where my interest in
paranormal started.
What
is your current “work in progress” or upcoming projects?
I’m just finishing a paranormal historical novel
based on stories I’ve heard about my ancestors’ experiences immigrating to
America in the 1800s. I’ve taken these
family stories, twisted them a bit, added a touch of magic, and created a tale
of an Irish family who flee the old country to escape being accused of
witchcraft. The come to America to
homestead in Kansas, encounter outlaws, Indians, and cowboys, among others. I
expect it to be published this summer.
Can
you share a little of your current work with us?
Here is an excerpt from Near The Wild:
Leprechauns were feared, even in
Ireland. Of course, Ma and Da denied
that we were related to the magical people in the forest, the sidhe, but there was no denying that the
other good families in our village of Clonmel didn’t know how to do the things
we did.
Ma would shake her head and tease us,
calling us leprechauns whenever we asked if we could play our favorite
game. But then she would close the
shutters so the fun could begin. Surely
none of our neighbors should see us huddled around a table that was two feet
off the ground. It was just a
fortune-telling game to us. We’d make
the table rise off the ground merely by thinking it should do so, and then we’d
ask it simple questions. The hovering
wooden table would tap one of its legs on the ground to answer, once for “yes”
and twice for “no.” As our confidence
grew, our questions became more outlandish, making my younger brothers giggle
uncontrollably.
I’m not sure where that game came from,
but I do remember Ma playing it with her sisters, too, whenever they all got
together. We’d watch in fascination,
because they were so much better at it than we were. The table would rise much higher and then
almost pound out the answer to the “yes” or “no” question posed to it. None of us children understood the
implications of what we were witnessing.
But the elders of the village and church did.
Then, there was the business about Finn
and me. I didn’t think anyone outside
our family could see him, so as we got older I got lazy about keeping our
friendship secret. We began to venture
out of the thick forest, where we had played since we were babes, and sit
together in the meadow on the outskirts of Clonmel. We’d lie back and let the tall, green grass
engulf us. Finn would make fun of some
of the townsfolk to make me smile.
I soon learned my mistake. One day, the baker’s wife marched into the
middle of the town square to point her finger in Ma’s face, making a holy show
of herself and poor Ma. The sour-faced
woman said I was inviting trouble, that I’d be stolen away to the sidhe’s world, or worse. The baker always gave Ma a complimentary meat
pie when she went into the shop, while his wife watched with a scowl. I think she had it in for us.
Ma told the woman to “hump off,” much
to my delight and horror, and then demanded an apology from the fat, old
crone. I received less support when Ma
got me home, though. She yanked so hard
on my ear, it felt like it’d come off, and the heat of her anger made her face
go scarlet.
“Maeve MacKeighry,” she shouted through
clenched teeth, still pulling my earlobe, which I feared had now been deformed
forever. “I’ve had enough of your
sprite! You will not see Finn again, or
so help me Lord Jesus!” When Ma took the
Lord’s name in vain, it was serious business.
But we both knew Finn could not be so
easily discarded. He was a wild spirit,
full of good intentions but no regard for rules, or restrictions, as his kind
often were. Even if I tried to avoid
him, he wouldn’t let go of me.
Ma feared I’d never have a respectable
suitor, even though boys in Clonmel gave me admiring glances, especially when I
wore my long, thick curls loose. Ma used
to say I had classic features offset by fiery hair. Although I did inherit the high cheekbones of
the MacKeighry clan, I don’t quite know what she meant by “fiery” since my hair
was more brown than red. In either
case, boys did look my way whenever I passed by, but none approached me. Maybe because my stride wasn’t as dainty as
most girls looking for husbands, or maybe because of the challenge they saw in
my green eyes. Most likely, though, it
was because they’d heard the whispered tales about Finn and me.
Then the whispers became more frequent,
and villagers stopped knocking on our door.
Rumors of witchcraft started to spread.
Never mind that the baker’s wife was the culprit, it still made
townsfolk close their shutters when we walked down the street to church. When Father Donoghue at St. John’s shunned
our family after Sunday mass more than once, Da left to start a homestead in
Kansas.
Ma said they were giving away land in
America. It might as well be the moon
for all I cared, because America meant nothing to me. And the land must not be worth much if they
were giving it away for free, I figured.
Nevertheless, some months later, we followed.
“The Lord is giving us a chance at a
better life in a new country,” Ma told us all one rainy afternoon. The weather made us housebound, so we begged
to play with the table. “None of our
games will be allowed in our new home.
We’ll have a fresh beginning, and one without the ways of leprechauns,”
she had said with a pointed look in my direction.
Do
you have to travel much to do research for your books?
No, not for my writing. But I do travel quite a bit for my other job,
and I often incorporate experiences from those travels into my writing. For example, in The Soul Stealer, there is a
scene where Malia and her father are on the Big Island of Hawaii and go to the
volcano to see the lava flow into the ocean.
Although I don’t live on that island, I often go there on business, and
whenever I can, I visit Volanoes National Park.
It is the most magical, powerful place I’ve ever been, and I find it
very inspirational. I try to do it
justice in this scene.
Do
you have any advice for other writers?
Keep writing, no matter how crazy or a waste of time
it seems. It isn’t either. And the only way to get better is to sit down
and do it.
The Soul Stealer
Maureen Willett
Genre: Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Publish Green
ISBN: 978-1-62652
ASIN: B00ED1WLCW
Number of pages: 251
Word Count: 92,317
Book Description:
Hunter Blackthorne has almost all he needs: powerful magic and the seductive art of deception. Now, all he needs is her soul.
In the dark, twisting world of The Soul Stealer, half-human Hunter Blackthorne embarks on a quest to vanquish the heir of his father's enemy by stealing her soul. Though his father would settle for her mere death, Hunter is determined to pilfer Malia Smalls' very essence in hopes of obtaining supreme power. The Soul Stealer is a story of questioned loyalties, power struggles, and decidedly unconventional romance.
Since his target is a mere human, Hunter's mission seems laughably straightforward. However, upon meeting Malia, Hunter realizes that this task is anything but uncomplicated. Hunter starts to waver between commitment to his father's cause and an unshakable feeling of foreboding guilt over his mission. Hunter thought he knew everything there was to know about his identity and his family, but signs of a darker truth lurk below, threatening to overturn everything.
A story of alternate realities and twisting complications set in exotic Hawaii, The Soul Stealer is a story of fantasy, magic and mysticism, but also a story about humanity and the moral and emotional conflicts that we all face. The Soul Stealer transports the reader to an exciting, dangerous, and captivating world that won't be easily forgotten.
About the Author:
Since she was in grade school, Maureen Willett has been a writer of fiction that pushes the boundaries of what is and isn’t. At that time, she twisted class writing assignments into stories about witches, tricksters in the night, and sparkling faery dust. And, participating in the art of levitation every time her family gathered at holidays made Maureen feel more than qualified to write fantastic tales. Magic had always been a secret part of her family’s legacy--toyed with but never spoken about.
But life got in the way. A successful career in automotive journalism and public relations in Los Angeles took her places in the corporate world she had dreamed of while majoring in communications in college. Climbing the corporate ladder to vice president of a prestigious public relations agency was engrossing, but did she really want to spend her days writing about cars and monster trucks, and trying to break through the thick glass ceiling of the automotive world?
Then one day, she was offered a transfer to the Honolulu, Hawaii, office of her agency. She jumped at the chance to change her predictable and stressful existence for one of soaking up the sun on a white, sandy beach. Or so she thought.
Hawaii didn’t prove to be as stress free as Maureen had hoped, but it did offer a fresh perspective. After two uncertain years of trying to blend into the foreign island culture, Maureen fell in love with Oahu and vowed never to leave. The tropical paradise held a soft yet powerful mysticism that inspired her to set pen to paper once again.
Even the office buildings in downtown Honolulu were haunted. Maureen often saw ethereal beings in the halls of the radio station where she was the manager of local and national sales. These pesky pieces of grey mist didn’t bother her, though. Maureen thought of them more as interesting topics for urban fantasy tales than scary apparitions.
Magical creatures pop off the pages of her novels, but at the core of each story are great characters in very human conflicts that anyone will find compelling. Very often, Maureen writes about angels, faeries, and even leprechauns, but they are always woven through an authentic story.
As an avid reader herself, Maureen wants a page-turner that keeps her up until the wee hours of morning. She strives to create that same experience for her own readers. Each novel is carefully crafted as an exciting, mind-bending experience that will take readers beyond their day-to-day lives.
But don’t expect to think too hard, or contemplate the meaning of life. Pure fun and page-turning entertainment is what you’ll find in a novel by Maureen Willett. It’s almost a magical experience.
Website: www.maureenwillett.com
Twitter: @maureenwillett
Facebook: www.bit.ly/soulstealerseries
January 6 Guest blog
Fang Freakin' Tastic Reviews
January 7 Interview
Pembroke Sinclair.
January 9 Interview
Books Direct
January 10 Spotlight
Fantasy Book Lane
January 10 review
Gigi's Book Blog,
January 13 Interview
Fantasy Book Addict
January 13 Interview
Darkest Cravings - Adult Blog
January 14 Interview
Lia's Book Haven
January 15 Spotlight
Buried Under Books
January 16 Character Interview
Author Karen Swart
January 20 Interview
Eclipse Reviews
January 20 Spotlight
It's All About the Romance
January 21 Guest blog
Cloey's Book Reviews and Other Stuff
January 24 Spotlight
Lisa’s World of Books
January 27 review
Who's Reviews-
January 28 Interview
Roxanne‘s Realm
January 29 Guest blog
The Creatively Green Write at Home Mom
January 30 Spotlight
Soaring Eagle Publicity
January 31 Interview and review
Hooked In a Book
February 3 Guest blog
Fang-tastic Books
3 comments:
Thank you for the giveaway> THIS BOOK SOUNDS REALLY GREAT
Great give away
Great post! I loved the interview, the book sounds exciting, and I loved learning more about the author!
Post a Comment