#12DaysofCreepfest: Author Interview with Ash Krafton

WELCOME:Welcome to the 12 Days of Creepfest; a celebration of Christmas spooks and horror and an opportunity to introduce you to some wonderful horror and Dark Fairytale writers. Firstly thanks to the wonderful Rebecca Treadway (@creepywalker) for organising this fun trip.
Today I am happy to welcome the brilliant Ash Krafton, author of

Bio: Ash Krafton is a speculative fiction writer whose work has appeared in journals such as Absent Willow Review, Expanded Horizons, and Silver Blade. Ms. Krafton resides in the heart of the Pennsylvania coal region, where she keeps the book jacket for "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" in a frame over her desk. Visit the Spec Fic Chick website at www.ashkrafton.com for updates on the release of her debut novel, Bleeding Hearts, forthcoming in 2012 through Pink Narcissus Press.

INTERVIEW:

In 140 characters, describe your private self.
I love boots so much I developed an addiction. I mean, each pair has its own name. (They tried to make me go to rehab, I said No, no, no.)

In 140 characters, describe your writerly self.
I compose on paper but revise in pixels. I write in thick gel pen but edit in fine-point. I break computers, usually with Darjeeling.

Tell us more about your current work and projects?
I’ve a thick notebook full of poetry and short fiction in various stages of completion. I’ve also a thick MS Word folder full of novels, also in various stages of completion. Most days, I just work on whichever project clamors the loudest.

One of the things I’ve actually completed is my urban fantasy, BLEEDING HEARTS. It’s due out in March 2012. Lately I’ve been working on its sequel. I’ve an editor to keep happy.

What is your favourite book / story of all time?
My favorite book is the Golden Key by Melanie Rawn et al. but, this close to Christmas, I tend to reach for Hogfather. Can’t help myself.

How do you like to bring the 'dark side' into Christmas?
I don’t have to bring the dark side into Christmas. Santa does it all by himself. Fat dude that slides down chimneys, inspiring all sorts of copy-cat crimes that often lead to horrific entrapment and, sometimes, death of the burglar? That’s pure genius.

Describe your perfect fantasy Christmas day.
I wake up wearing magic armor, lying next to a sleeping dragon. If it wakes up before I make it out the door, things may get rather dicey (but in a good way.) The rest of the day is more traditional, except Santa’s reindeer are replaced by chimeras. They are *so cool.* Later, when I open mounds of presents, I find many, many pairs of boots and a Dragon Naturally Speaking program that actually understands what the hell I’m saying.

Which six famous figures (dead or alive) would you love to have sitting at your Christmas table?
Cameron Diaz, Mel Blanc, Geddy Lee, Hansi Kursch, Ben Franklin, and Jane Austen.

What are your New Year wishes?
People everywhere find peace within themselves and peace surrounding them. I wish a prosperous New Year to all my writerly friends and maybe a nice review or two for my novel. I also hope for a painless income tax filing season. (Why not wish big, right?)

Just for fun: TRIVIA

Christmas pudding or Stilton Cheese?
OMG Stilton is a CHEESE? Who knew? I’m lactose intolerant and I love pudding, so let’s go with that one. Hope there is whipped cream on it.

Bing Crosby or The Pogues?
Uncle Bing.

The Queen's Speech or Taking out your own eyeballs?
I like to daydream that the Queen is my grandma. I know she has a duty to behave stoic and reserved in public but, deep down inside her, there is a real hugger inside. (I also pretend my other grandma is Julie Andrews. And that we do shots of peach schnapps at family weddings.) So please, easy on the references to torture. She’s absolutely lovely and I wish we had a queen here. *crosses arms and stamps foot*

Turkey or Ham?
Ham. My mother-in-law makes a fabulous ham gravy that I could drink right out of the ladle. mmmmmm

Brussel Sprouts or Carrots?
I’ve never eaten a Brussel Sprout, dammit, and I shan’t start now.

Jolliness or Bah Humbug?
Jolly with a twisted twist. I fancy myself one of the cheerfully depressed. It’s a good time.

Links to my portals:
Http://ashkrafton.com
Http://facebook.com/ashkraftonauthor
Http://twitter.com/ashkrafton
Http://ash-krafton.livejournal.com
Http://ash-krafton.blogspot.com
Http://goodreads.com/ash_krafton
Http://pinknarc.com

#12DaysofCreepfest Author Interview with Red Tash

WELCOME:
Welcome to the 12 Days of Creepfest; a celebration of Christmas spooks and horror and an opportunity to introduce you to some wonderful horror and Dark Fairytale writers. Firstly thanks to the wonderful Rebecca Treadway (@creepywalker) for organising this fun trip.
Today I am happy to welcome the brilliant Red Tash, Author of 'This Brilliant Darkness.'

BIO:Red Tash was born in a rain barrel behind the old aluminum barn on the back 40 of her parents’ Indiana homestead. After self-learnin’ herself to spell and type, riding side-saddle on a rusted-out, empty Silgas tank, she ran away from home to join the journalism circus, and began writing comic strips and 100% fabricated horoscopes for a network of local newspapers across These Here United States of America.

Eventually, Red tired of making up corny jokes and telling fortunes, so she retired from the newspaper biz to become a VJ on MTV. You might remember Red spinning out the hits between news reports from Kurt Loder, and the indecipherable jokes made by Downtown Julie Brown.

Then again, you might not.

Because some of the above was false.

The truth:

Red Tash knows that all you really care about is that she writes good stories. She does that. Red’s books make you think, make you wonder, make you laugh, and keep you turning pages. They’ve been known to keep hardened readers up at night, racing to the end of the book.

Presently, Red has one (count ‘em) one longform book available, entitled This Brilliant Darkness. It is the first in a series, and someday it hopes to be a graphic novel.


INTERVIEW:

In 140 characters, describe your private self.
Mother, fighter, kick-ass writer, newlywed and ex-rollergirl

In 140 characters, describe your writerly self.
Erudite, boastful, proud, ridiculously creative, generous, funny, dark.

Tell us more about your current work and projects?
Finishing a YA roller derby fantasy set in rural Indiana, starring a queer kid and a bunch of drug-addicted fairies and trolls. You know, popcorn stuff.

Which writers are your biggest influence?
Holly Black, Neil Gaiman, Jo Rowling, Stephen King, Melissa Marr.

What is your favourite book / story of all time?
Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire. When I die, I'm going to the Yule Ball to dance forever.

How do you like to bring the 'dark side' into Christmas?
Christmas is an inherently dark time. I think the better question (for me) is "How do you bring the light, without making it corny?" In my personal life, I give myself over completely to the corniness. I sing Christmas Carols with the kids, I bake--but at the end of the day, I will weep along to O Holy Night, and I realize the reason I cry so hard is because of all those sad memories of Christmas. I know I'm not the only one who's had a real Severus Snape kind of childhood. It is what it is--there'll never be an appreciation for the goodness & light if one hasn't experienced the pain of what Christmas is supposed to be--and found oneself left out of that.

Describe your perfect fantasy Christmas day.
Having all my family with me on Christmas morning, a lovely fire, a huge tree, everyone is happy with their gifts, and I don't have to clean up the mess!

Which six famous figures (dead or alive) would you love to have sitting at your Christmas table?
Jesus (it's his party, right?), T.S. Eliot, Einstein, Dumbledore, & Leonardo da Vinci

What are your New Year wishes?
Beyond the standard Peace on Earth thing, I'd love for everyone I love to be healthy. I'd also love to make a living from my writing. I traded a freelance career for this experiment in fiction, and I'd love for that gamble to break even.

Just for fun: TRIVIA

Christmas pudding or Stilton Cheese?
No idea. I'll go with the cheese.

Bing Crosby or The Pogues?
The Pogues

The Queen's Speech or Taking out your own eyeballs?
I'm going to pass!

Turkey or Ham?
Beans & rice! Animal food grosses me out. I eat it, but I can't think about it too much.

Brussel Sprouts or Carrots?
Sprouts!

Jolliness or Bah Humbug?
Super corny Holy Jolly. ;)

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My 90 Day Amazon kdp Experiment. Why I signed up and what have been the results. Week One.

Earlier this week I received a message from my good friend Jeff Bennington (@Tweetthebook) enquiring if I had read my Amazon e-mail regarding the new kdp select program.
In a nut shell (I urge you to investigate the terms for yourself before rushing from this post and plunging in) Amazon want to establish a loaning scheme. If you enrol your books you get a cut of a loaning money pie, the opportunity to be more widely promoted on Amazon and most tempting of all, you get 5 days out of the 90 day period in which you can set your own free promos - of course there is a catch and that catch is that they want exclusive distribution rights for this period.

When I first read it, my idyllic indie writer's head lead my to immediately mutter something along the lines of 'bloody leviathan corporations eating up the little man ... mumble... grumble etc.' but then my business head kicked on. The word exclusivity conjures up golden shackles and artistic slavery but then really, how many other platforms are paying for the bread on my table? It was as I was thinking this over that I read Jeff's brilliant post, 'Why I'm joining kdp select'. In this post (and I strongly recommend you go off and read it) He explains, to paraphrase, that the natural sales patterns were pretty much making him Amazon exclusive anyway. This is like me, with over 95% of my sales being through Amazon Kindle.

It was the push I needed. Within twenty minutes I had decided a game plan. I am a writer of a series, and the first of my series is priced a $0.99. I decided that this was the perfect scenario to play experiments. I would enrol my #1 'The Forest of Adventures' onto the program and then set a free promotion. This was with the hope that it might boost the sales of #2 'Immortal Beloved' which is priced at $2.99 and thus help my revenue grow.

Nothing could really have prepared me for what happened. 'The Forest of Adventures' has been selling steadily in the UK market for the past 3 months, spending much of that time in the top #3000 paid sales. However, I have found it almost impossible to break into the American market in the same way. When I logged onto my sales account half a day into the promo, expecting to see a few tens of giveaways, I was amazed to see over 700 USA downloads and 300 UK downloads. I sat there watching the figures ticking over at 20-30 downloads an hour. By the end of the 48hr promotion I had successfully given away over 1700 books. I was thrilled with the thought that all those people now had a copy of my book; especially the American audience.

I was still skeptical about the longer effects of the promotion, but I was happy enough just to have gained some new readers. I was bugged by worry questions; what if I had saturated my potential market? Why would anybody buy a copy of my book when they could have downloaded it for free? Had I sabotaged my steady placement in the paid rankings?

So I was further amazed to find that the two days following the end of the promotion were the best paid sales days I've had since publication. In the UK 'The Forest of Adventures' has increased 3 fold, meaning that from Mon- Wed I was at #620 of the Amazon paid UK charts. (#1 Fairytales #11 Paranormal #13 Myths and Legends). This pattern was reflected in the USA and 'The Forest of Adventures' has sat steadily in the top #3000 Amazon paid charts this week.

And the original game plan... The sales of #2 'Immortal Beloved' have spiked with many of the giveaway copies translating into paid sales of #2.

I don't know how long this honeymoon will last, or whether it is the wobble of the magical tipping point, but what I do know it that being an early bird on this exciting project has given me a couple of thousand new followers and hundreds of new loyal fans. It has also given me a nice little Christmas bonus which hints at the promise that maybe the writing malarkey could one day become my full time job rather than 'just a hobby'.

I know that Jeff will be posting his experiences later this week and I recommend that you take in as many experiences as possible before making your own choices - or, like me, you can just throw the dice and see how it lands.
Good Luck.

Read Jeff's post here
Follow Jeff on twitter.

#12DaysofCreepfest Author Interview: Annetta Ribken

Author Bio:

Annetta has been writing since words were carved on stone tablets with chisels. Not only does she write her own words, Annetta is also an accomplished editor. She lives just outside of St. Louis with her evil feline overlord, a rescued shelter cat named Athena


"Athena's Promise" synopsis:
Compared to Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series, meet Pallas, the heroine of "Athena's Promise". As the front desk manager of a hotel on the edge of Zombietown, Pallas is used to dealing with angry centaurs, surly trolls, and zombie housekeepers. The trouble really starts when one of her guests ends up dead. But that's not her only problem.

A cop with an attitude – can he be trusted to be more than just a pain in her ass or does he have a more sinister agenda?

A new Guest Services Manager, out for her job and ready to sacrifice anyone in his way – what does he really want?

The attractive maintenance guy, endangering the promise she made out of necessity to the Goddess Athena – does he know more than he's telling?

A mermaid diva, whose show at the Sparkling Butterfly must go on – or else. Pallas needs to find the killer, and fast, or she'll lose her job, her home, and the ragtag family she's adopted out of her crew of "critters". In the course of the investigation Pallas uncovers connections to a nasty Oddities dealer deep in the heart of Zombietown, forcing her to expose a trauma from her past which could threaten her future.

With everyone and everything she loves in danger, the promise made to the Goddess Athena may well damn her if she breaks it, but she is bound and determined to save her friends, her home, and everything she's built.

No matter what it takes.

INTERVIEW:

In 140 characters, describe your private self.
Silly, serious, loyal, focused, addicted to words. Professional hermit with a deep allergy to the Out. Cat lover, mother, grandmother, but only 19 years old in my head.

In 140 characters, describe your writerly self.
I am a driven workaholic with an overactive imagination and a number of storylines I'm trying to untangle. I love the creative process; it's exhilarating and amazing fun.

Tell us more about your current work and projects.
Every day is different, which is one of the things I love the most about my job. I have three editing projects going on in various stages; working with a client on a large project; poking around trying to get "Athena's Chains", the next book in my trilogy plotted; several shorts planned. A boss of mine used to say, "Busy is good." I agree.

Which writers are your biggest influence?
Stephen King and Robin McKinley. I think Stephen King is amazingly talented in the way he brings people to life. There are very few books I've read of his that I feel I could not recognize his characters were I to bump into them on the street. I admire that more than I can say.

Robin McKinley has a beautiful, lyrical style that really appeals to me. Her book, "Deerskin", moved me in so many ways. I love taking a fairy tale or established mythology and give it a good twist, which is what she does here without the usual happy ending. It's a fabulous book.

What is your favourite book / story of all time?
This is too difficult. I would say if I were on a deserted island and could only bring one book, it would have to be "Dragonriders of Pern" by Anne McCaffrey.

How do you like to bring the 'dark side' into Christmas?
I like to watch Christmas movies like the Blade Trilogy, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Rocky Horror Picture Show. The Grinch is my hero before he gets all mushy. Christmas today is a whole lot different than when I grew up, and I don't like it much now. I try to avoid all the commercialism, the sales, the pressure to clean and cook and shop and wrap and bake and…well, you get the picture.

Describe your perfect fantasy Christmas day.
My perfect fantasy Christmas day would start off by coffee served in bed by a naked minion, while another naked minion cooks dinner. My kids would be here with my grandson for a visit, and we would enjoy the cookies made by yet another naked minion.

Well, maybe not naked if my kids were here.

After a nice meal, everybody goes home. Go on. Get out.

Which six famous figures (dead or alive) would you love to have sitting at your Christmas table?
Nathan Fillion, Stephen King, Louisa May Alcott, Adam Levine, Queen Elizabeth I, Anne McCaffrey.

What are your New Year wishes?
Health, wealth, and happiness. Oh, and world peace. That would be nice.

Just for fun: TRIVIA

Christmas pudding or Stilton Cheese?
Cheese.

Bing Crosby or The Pogues?
Bing.

The Queen's Speech or Taking out your own eyeballs?
Taking out my own eyeballs. Or maybe taking out the Queen's eyeballs. Hey, I know! Eyeballs that talk with the Queen's Speech!

Turkey or Ham?
Roast beef.

Brussel Sprouts or Carrots?
Roasted Brussel sprouts. MMMMM!

Jolliness or Bah Humbug?
Jolly humbug. Heh.

Buy links:

BUY COPY AT AMAZON

BUY PRINT COPY

BUY AT SMASHWORDS

12 Days of #CreepFest: Author Interview with Stant Litore

WELCOME:
Welcome to the 12 Days of Creepfest; a celebration of Christmas spooks and horror and an opportunity to introduce you to some wonderful horror and Dark Fairytale writers. Firstly thanks to the wonderful Rebecca Treadway (@creepywalker) for organising this fun trip.

Today I am happy to welcome the brilliant Stant Litore, author of the series The Zombie Bible.

INTERVIEW:
In 140 characters, describe your private self.
Will stop on a blizzard day to help someone whose car is busted. Have an incurable phobia of zombies, jellyfish, and Westboro Baptist Church.

In 140 characters, describe your writerly self.
Knives flashing in the dark. Sometimes you have to cut deep to find the real beating heart of the story.

Tell us more about your current work and projects?
You’re going to want to check out The Zombie Bible. It’s a series of biblical tales retold as episodes of humanity’s long struggle against hunger and the hungry dead. Not your parents’ Sunday School. These stories have teeth. And heart. The most recent novel is set in second-century Rome and it’s about a priest who can bring peace to the walking, ravenous dead. But Rome might burn him for it.

How do you like to bring the 'dark side' into Christmas?
I’ll be honest, Christmas is the one day of the year that my mind is not dwelling on horror. In Hamlet, the guards describe how all the ghosts and bogeymen go to sleep when the cock crows at dawn on Christmas day. It’s the day when peace and goodwill lies over the earth.
But I will say this; While we eat our Christmas dinners and spend time with family, in many parts of the world children are starving, women in remote villages are walking ten miles to fetch a bucket of clean water while other women in crowded cities – right here in our own country – are working strip clubs under duress because if they don’t, they’ll have the shit beat out of them. Still other people are watching their homes be burned, or are packing in a hurry to get out. The dark side of Christmas is that a whole lot of people are suffering, and most of us aren’t thinking about them or acting to see justice done. Most of us are just breathing a sigh of relief that we managed to buy so many things before they sold out; in many cases, these are things manufactured in sweat shops and slave factories on distant shores.
I think if we really want to talk about wishing a merry Christmas and a happy New Year, we should have a moment of silence somewhere in the day and resolve to do what we can to make one hell of a difference this next year. Even if we just make a big difference for one person. Because otherwise, our Christmas dinner is a dinner served on the backs of broken and enslaved people and on the beaten bones of children, and the beautiful truths we tell ourselves about the season start to become lies.

Describe your perfect fantasy Christmas day.
Now that is a happier question. I actually think I am going to skip over the first few hours of that perfect Christmas and not describe them at all, and as my beautiful wife would be intimately involved in those hours, I think she’d appreciate that. But later in the morning I would see my two girls opening gifts and playing together, and we would have family calling in or visiting in the afternoon, and a dinner with some glorious vegetarian options for my wife and the most delicious turkey or ham you can find, for me. There would be wine. There would be laughter. There would be pictures and old stories. Wouldn’t mind a bit of snow outside and warmth in the hearth. I suppose this sounds real lazy – someone interviewed on here is going to want to go sky-diving on Christmas Day, I just know it – but there it is. Just Christmas at home with the people who matter to me.

Which six famous figures (dead or alive) would you love to have sitting at your Christmas table?
Since it’s the Christmas table, I’d pick the famous people who knew how to party and how to laugh fit to shake the room. I’d want Hafiz there – I think he’d be belly-laughing over pretty much everything, and trying to get the rest of us to. I think Abe Lincoln, because I admire him and he really needed a break and some people to cheer him up, there toward the end. Think we might could do that; my family is a cheerful crew.

Let’s see, how many left, four? Anne McCaffrey. She’d be spinning yarns, and a Christmas dinner isn’t anything without a few good yarns. And, well, I miss her. How about Themistocles, the hero of the Persian Wars? Frankly, you need a veteran at the table. He’ll show off his scars, his voice will boom out when there’s a lull, he’ll belt out carols off-key, and he may well try to dominate the table, but we’ll enjoy having him there.

Also, I’m sure this is one of those ‘oh come on, you didn’t pick him’ answers, but let’s get the Rabbi Jesus there, too. We won’t run out of wine, and he always seemed to have just the right thing to say. And since I’ve got one left, Barack Obama. If you’ve seen the benefits dinners, you know. Man can tell a joke.

What are your New Year wishes?
I’d like to introduce a lot more people to The Zombie Bible. :) Seriously, though, I would really like to be a better father this year. I am acutely aware that my two daughters are growing fast, and I’m aware of how much of a man gets sunk into work and projects. My girls need me, and I don’t want to miss one moment with them.

Just for fun: TRIVIA
Bing Crosby or The Pogues?
Crosby for Christmas. But please give me some good Celtic music the next day.

Jolliness or Bah Humbug?
Jolliness. I’m not old and bitter yet. May I never be.

http://zombiebible.blogspot.com
http://zombiebible.blogspot.com

Author Interview with Catrina Taylor: Xarrok:Birth of an Empire #1

This week it is my great pleasure to introduce you to the writer, Catrina Taylor (@TheLadyWrites). Her sci-fi novel, 'Xarrok: Birth of an Empire' has been released this weekend and I know it's going to quickly aquire a cult following.

SYNOPSIS:
This is a universe in constant turmoil. The major species in this universe have been at war for centuries. Their lives have become driven and motivated by the war and everything around it. Peaceful relations are limited and require strict enforcement. Traditions adhered to are rapidly being challenged and in the worst way possible. Things will change and a new empire will be born. One that will bring an end to the pain its people go through. One that will stand for peace at any cost.


Two warring fleet commanders square off against each other. Each side holding a lost desire. Neither commander backing down. One takes them both on a walk through history in hope he won’t have to take her life.

In your own 40 letters, what is Xarrok: Birth of an Empire about?
It's about finding out there are no limitations to who you are. (is that 40 letters?)

What inspired this wonderful story?
It was inspired by a Twitter Roleplaying group, Rebellion. I'm a part of it, and the story of how the two main characters in the RP got together rooted this book in my mind and my heart poured the words out.

How long was it in the making and writing?
This book is decades in the making, but about a year in the writing. I'm excited that it's finally out and the partner book is nearly ready as well.

Was it inspired by any other works?
In a sense it was. The Rebellion RP Group is a Star Trek fan fiction story that unfolds on the timeline.

It's part of a series, is the next one written?
Not fully written no. I'd estimate about half way but the Editor is going to be breathing down my neck on this one so it won't take as long to get out. Not only that but with book one I still had a child home and one in school, and that obviously posed another obstacle to completion that I don't have with book two.

Where do you like to write and what is your writing method?
I write locked up in my bedroom usually. That's where my PC is and it's the easiest method for my creation, so that's where it is.

Tell us something lesser known about yourself.
I'm giving this one some thought. I guess that I'm stuck in the midwestern USA when I'm a city girl at heart.

Where can we find out more about you and your writing?
My writing can be found in a few locations.
My business site has http://thewritingnetwork.com
My universe - the world of Xarrok is located at http://Xarrok.com
Information on the aforementioned RPGroup from Twitter can be found at http://strebellion.info
And of course anyone can chat with me on twitter @TheLadyWrites