Friday, February 27, 2015

Interview with Alethea Kontis


A themed tour with Prism Book Tours.


Dearest (Woodcutter Sisters, #3)Dearest
(Woodcutter Sisters, #3)
by Alethea Kontis
YA Fantasy
Hardcover & ebook, 320 Pages
February 3rd 2015 by HMH Books for Young Readers

“A fabulous fairy-tale mashup that deserves hordes of avid readers. Absolutely delectable.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review of award-winning series debut Enchanted

Readers met the Woodcutter sisters (named after the days of the week) in Enchanted and Hero. In this delightful third book, Alethea Kontis weaves together some fine-feathered fairy tales to focus on Friday Woodcutter, the kind and loving seamstress. When Friday stumbles upon seven sleeping brothers in her sister Sunday’s palace, she takes one look at Tristan and knows he’s her future. But the brothers are cursed to be swans by day. Can Friday’s unique magic somehow break the spell?

The Other Woodcutter Sisters Books
 Hero (Woodcutter Sisters #2)
Links for Enchanted

Alethea Kontis courtesy of Lumos Studio 2012
New York Times bestselling author Alethea Kontis is a princess, a fairy godmother, and a geek. She’s known for screwing up the alphabet, scolding vampire hunters, and ranting about fairy tales on YouTube.

Her published works include: The Wonderland Alphabet (with Janet K. Lee), Diary of a Mad Scientist Garden Gnome (with Janet K. Lee), the AlphaOops series (with Bob Kolar), the Woodcutter Sisters fairy tale series, and The Dark-Hunter Companion (with Sherrilyn Kenyon). Her short fiction, essays, and poetry have appeared in a myriad of anthologies and magazines.

Her YA fairy tale novel, Enchanted, won the Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award in 2012 and the Garden State Teen Book Award i 2015. Enchanted was nominated for the Audie Award in 2013, and was selected for World Book Night in 2014. Both Enchanted and its sequel, Hero, were nominated for the Andre Norton Award.

Born in Burlington, Vermont, Alethea currently lives and writes in Florida, on the Space Coast. She makes the best baklava you’ve ever tasted and sleeps with a teddy bear named Charlie.

Check out Alethea's Road Tour HERE!


Tour-Wide Giveaway

3 Woodcutter Sisters Prize Packs (signed copies of Enchanted, Hero, & Dearest - US Only)
Ends March 8th



Follow the Tour
1 - Launch
2 - Lilac Reviews
3 - Special post @ Waterworld Mermaids
18 - Special post on Dear Teen Me

Prism Book Tours
 
Interview with the Author
 
1. When did you first start writing and when did you finish your first book?

I first started writing when I was around 8 years old--I wrote poetry, because my favorite authors at the time were Lewis Carroll, Gelett Burgess, and Ogden Nash.
 
I started my first novel when I was eleven and revised it in high school. I made it to the penultimate chapter before I stopped, because I knew it wasn't good enough and I couldn't finish anything that wasn't perfect.
 
The first novel I finished was a YA horror called HAVEN, which I did for NaNoWriMo back in 2005. The original manuscript was only about 36,000 words...but at least I finished.
 
The novel I wrote after that was an expansion of a short story I had done for Realms of Fantasy magazine called "Sunday"...which eventually became Enchanted.
 
2. How did you choose the genre you write in?
 
The first book I published was a picture book. The second was a science fiction and fantasy anthology. The third was an encyclopedia of a popular paranormal romance series. The fourth was a book of personal essays about my life.
 
Nobody ever told me I had to write a certain thing, so I let my words take me wherever they want to go. My writing knows no genre, and I'm okay with that.
 
3. What author or books influenced you the most?
 
I made a list of the 21 books that have most influenced my writing, including Voltaire, Lewis Carroll, Jude Deveraux, and David Sedaris. You can read the list here: http://aletheakontis.com/2009/06/my-21-most-influential-books/
 
As for my career, the authors who have taught me and inspired me the most have been: Orson Scott Card, Andre Norton, Sherrilyn Kenyon, John Scalzi, and Mary Robinette Kowal.
 
4. Any writing rituals?
 
This is pretty much my writing ritual:
 
Step 1: Sit down with my laptop and a cup of coffee.
Step 2: Write until coffee gets cold.
Step 3: Heat up coffee in microwave.
 
Repeat.
 
5. What do you do when you're not writing?
 
WHATEVER I WANT. Isn't that the awesomest thing about being a grownup??? I like to dress up and film myself ranting about fairy tales and then post them on YouTube. I like to go fishing and shrimping with my dad. I like to watch the rocket launches at Cape Canaveral. I like to binge watch old episodes of TV shows I love, like Chuck and Gilmore Girls. I like to paint--I work mostly in acrylics, with some sort of collage aspect, like Janet Lee taught me. (I painted "The ream-Haired Girl" that appears at the top of my website.)
 
6. Any plans for future books you can share with us?
 
In the next six months, I will be publishing Diary of a Mad Scientist Garden Gnome (another illustrated collaboration with Janet K. Lee), Trixter (a Woodcutter novella), and a trilogy of short contemporary romance novels set in a small beach town in central Florida. I'm very excited about all of them!
 
 
Thank you, Alethea, for gracing us with your presence! And congratulations on the release of your new book!

6 comments:

  1. This book looks AMAZING! Love the cover, and the story sounds amazing. I'm hopping over to my library website right now to put it on hold! ;)

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    1. All of the books have beautiful covers, don't they? I hope you enjoy it!

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    2. They do! ;) People say not to judge books by covers, but I'm guilty! Thanks! I HOPE I WIN!!!

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  2. The Woodcutter series seems fabulous, and I think I would enjoy them because I love fairytale retellings. I'm so glad to see an author that knows no boundaries when it comes to genre. That's the writer I think I want to be. I want to write in multiple genres, but have all my books tied together by a common thread of mystery.

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    1. I love fairy tales too. And isn't that cool? I totally wasn't expecting that as an answer, but I love that.

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