Can you tell us a little about how you started writing; was it something you have always wanted to do?
–I’ve been writing since I was very young. I always knew I would be a writer because I really always was.
Who or what has been your biggest influence as a writer?
–I had a high school teacher named Kitty Savage, who taught me everything I ever wanted to know about writing and grammar. She encouraged me so much that even when I was in college, I would take stories to her for her opinion before I submitted them.
Your work is very popular with readers and reviewers; how does it feel to have such positive recognition for your work?
–It feels great! The first clue I ever had that people were loving my work was when a reviewer stopped in the middle of reading my first book, The Reckoning of Asphodel, and told me she just had to write–and I’d better not kill off her favorite character. I thought that was pretty darn cool.
What do you consider to be the key elements of a great story?
— Strong characters are first and foremost at the top of my list. I want my characters to be so believable that they walk off the page, into a reader’s kitchen and open up the fridge in search of something to eat. I also think that a strong, cohesive world is essential to great speculative fiction and a plot that consistently builds in level and intensity.
Could you tell us a little about how you develop your characters? Who has been your favorite character to write? The most challenging?
–My characters develop naturally, just like real people do. I start off with a fairly simple character sheet with descriptions, a bit of history and personality quirks and then, as they progress in the story I let their personalities develop as their situation in the plot does. Tamsen has been both my favorite character and the most challenging to write. It was tempting to let her become too perfect, so I had to reel in my love for the character and give her some pretty serious character flaws to keep her real.
Please tell us about the projects you are currently working on; what can readers expect to see in the coming months?
–Well, the final Asphodel book comes out on July 3 from Aspen Mountain Press. I’m also working on several other fantasy and paranormal romance novels.
Hollywood came calling and asked for one of your books to be made into a movie. Which one would you choose and who do you see playing your characters?
– Why, The Reckoning of Asphodel of course! And who do I see playing my characters? Well, I’m not quite sure. Maybe Scarlett Johanssen as Tamsen. I’m not sure who should play Brial. But I’m positive that there would be roles for Gerard Butler and Eric Bana–either one would be a great Anner. As for Gabril, the Duke de Spesialle? We need a great villain. I vote for Johnny Depp.
Where can readers find more about you and your books?
–They can find out more about me and my writing at Shoot the Muse! (http://shootthemuse.bravehost.com) or Elf Killing and Other Hobbies (www.kaantira.blogspot.com).
If we asked your muse to describe you in three words, what do you think he/she/it would say?
–My muse would use the words perfectionist, workaholic and whimsical.
For fun: You are able to meet one character from any book, who would it be and what would you do?
–One character from any book, eh? Hmm…right now, I’d want to meet Phaedre from Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel’s Dart series just for a glass of wine and some gossip about Terre d’Ange.
Sneak peek into Apostle of Asphodel co ming July 3rd, 2009 from Aspen Mountain Press
www.aspenmountainpress.com
As I’d seen her represented in her temple on Hippolytos, the witch-goddess was naked, her body gleaming in the storm-diffused light. Heavy manacles swung from her slender wrists, trailing several feet of massive chain that clattered restlessly when she gestured. The lion’s head of the goddess bore a feline, feral grin as she cradled two coiling vipers to her breast.
“Thou hast impressed me, mortal,” the goddess said, her voice a low, throaty purr that I could hear over the rush of the sand scouring the granite obelisks. “Thy determination has brought thee to this point, when most other mortals would have fallen to my snares. Nevertheless, now thou dost stand before me, Queen of the Elves, unprotected by thy puny Huntress or even by thy husband. Thou art weary and wounded and unarmed. Thy magic is weakened through great toil. None can come to thy rescue, mortal; thou art entirely in mine power. I can do with thee as I will and none may gainsay me.”
“I will gainsay you, cursed and damned goddess! I have survived your snares because they do not tempt me and have bypassed your ambushes because they do not challenge me. Despite all that you could do, here I stand at the very foot of the one place you did not wish me to reach and I will continue to defy you!”
Lamashtu laughed, throwing back her head in a gruesome parody of the abandoned pose her statue had taken in her obsidian sanctuary. “Not wish thee to reach? Foolish mortal, this is the one place on earth I would fain have you reach, for only here can I triumph wholly over thee. In this place, the protection of thy goddess cannot fall upon thee. In this place, the strictures of cursed Deimos do not surround thee, gifting thee with power beyond that of mortal kind. In this place, the judgment hall of the gods, thou art but a simple mortal girl, bereft of her magic and undefended. Here, thou will fall below my power, easy prey for the goddess who returns to ascend her rightful place in the universe!”
Lamashtu screamed the last sentence to the sky and the intensity of the storm trebled. The wind emitted a high-pitched howl, rising in answer to the challenge of the goddess. Her feral eyes fell back upon me and my mouth went dry.
Where was my magic? Why couldn’t I feel it? Frantically, I grabbed at my chest for the Ka’antira pendant, but my fingers scrabbled futilely and came away empty. Lamashtu lifted one slim hand and I saw with horror that the viper was twining its coils through the heavy gold and silver chain of the pendant.
“So, thus, do all of the ineffectual implements of humanity fall beneath the foot of a god,” she said, her voice as cold and incisive as a knife. Deliberately, she let the necklace fall to the ground, grinding it into the sands beneath her slender, unshod foot until it disappeared from my sight.
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2 Responses to “Guest Author with Celina Summers”
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Oh man Celina…I love your writing and this series h as become one of my favorites.
So tell us….any spin offs from the Asphodel series in the future?
Raine D.
Can’t wait for the release! Great interview, ladies.